Trip and Fall

September 1, 2014

Man sues PA. Hotel after Slipping in Shower

A New Jersey man says that the owners, licensors, and operators of a Cumberland County, PA hotel are liable for the conditions that led to his slip in one of the hotel’s showers and subsequent head injury, according to a personal injury lawsuit filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Frank Ristagno, of West Deptford, N.J., seeks more than $150,000 for each of the four counts of negligence filed against Hilton Worldwide, Inc., which granted the franchising rights for a Hampton Inn in Carlisle, PA to co-defendant Hersha Hospitality Trust in 2000. Hersha sold the franchise to Starwood Capital Group in 2011, but both entities have been held responsible for the 2012 incident.

As reported by The Pennsylvania Record, according to his complaint, on Aug. 26, 2012, Ristagno was a guest at the Hampton Inn on Harrisburg Pike. While taking a shower, he slipped on the floor, hitting his head against the wall and briefly losing consciousness.

April 27, 2014

Woman sues hotel for fall off bar stool

by Blady Workforce Law Group, APC

Antoinette Allison of Reynoldsburg, Ohio was staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Syracuse, New York in April 2011 when she went to the hotel’s Library Lounge bar. Syracuse.com reports that Ms. Allison claims that while waiting for food at the bar, she fell off of a, “wooden, high-back bar stool,” and landed on her wrist, causing multiple fractures that required surgery. She is now suing the hotel for $1 million.

In her lawsuit, Ms. Allison claims that the bar stool was too high off the ground, and that, “hotel management knew of other problems with the height of the stools.” Her lawyer, Mark Ventrone, stated in a 2012 complaint that, “Said bar stools were more dangerous than patrons would expect and safer designs are on the marketplace.”

The lawsuit will proceed to court. Syracuse.com was unable to reach Mr. Ventrone for comment. They were also unable to reach Thomas Carafa, the lawyer for the hotel’s owner, Richfield Hospitality, Inc.

November 13, 2012

Woman Sues City for $750,000 for Fall in Park

by Blady Workforce Law Group, APC

A Massachusetts woman has sued the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire for $750,000, claiming that she suffered a severe ankle injury when she stepped into a hole in a city park. Mary Reed and her husband Richard filed the federal suit in the New Hampshire District Court. Reed alleged that as she was walking across the park on June 15, 2011, she stepped into a “deep, grass-covered hole” causing “serious and permanent” injuries, according to her attorney, Peter Hutchins. Her husband is seeking damages for the loss of consortium.

The City asked the federal court to dismiss the suit through William Scott, an attorney for its insurance provider. Mr. Scott cited state law, which grants immunity from liability to landowners who make their property available to the public free of charge. Scott argued that if the court awards her damages, they should be “proportionately reduced in accordance with her comparative negligence.” Reed describes the hole as at least a foot deep and 2 1/2 feet wide, and covered by grass, rendering it unnoticeable. The city, according to Scott, believes the “depression” was at most an inch or two deep and a foot wide.

Reed claims that as a result of her fall, she has suffered “prolonged and continued pain and suffering, severe emotional distress and mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, prolonged and repeated medical procedures, medical expenses and permanenet impairment.” Her husband claims that as a result of the accident, he has suffered the loss of “society, companionship, services and consortum of his injured wife.” Scott contends that Richard Reed is not entitled to any compensation.