Negligence, Other Injury Badly scratched by Las Vegas hotel room furniture

[hotelhell]

Jurisdiction

Nevada

I arrived in Las Vegas to spend the holiday weekend for New Years. On the first night I go to sit down on the chair they provide for the desk they have in my hotel on the strip, which is a pretty nice mid tier hotel next to the monorail. I don't know who designed these chairs but they have pointy metal ends and my leg ended up getting scratched badly, bleeding, and I needed to have a bandage to cover a large scrape that was at least six inches. Didn't require stiches but I had to go to the hospital to make sure there was no sign of tetanus or other infection.

The security at the hotel were all really nice. They put in a report and understood the problem and then apologized profusely and provided another chair. They took dozens of photos. I didn't hear from them anything about some type of compensation to at least offset all the time I had to spend not doing what I planned and ended up in the emergency room. I'm not looking for a big personal injury lawsuit but I don't know how to deal with something like this with the hotel as i want some of the charges reversed from my hotel stay and for the shows we missed while I was in the hospital. Has anyone had this type of an experience? Should I hire a lawyer to handle this or need one?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. Hotels there seem usually willing to provide all sorts of benefits in order to keep customers happy and going to Vegas. They are experiencing difficult times and have been generous when I was there. If you're planning on returning again I'm sure they'll be glad to give you freebies, perhaps even room accommodations. They should have the report on file. But if you don't ask for compensation, why would they give it to you? Maybe the desk manager might have done something nice by sending up something complimentary - but you still need to make the ask and you have not.

I don't think this is a matter that makes financial sense for an attorney to be involved, especially if you're talking about an injury which you should have limited if any long term problems and might have cost you a few hundred dollars. Be prepared as to how much you want before you call and see how it goes.

 

[adjusterjack]

Has anyone had this type of an experience?

Funny. Something similar happened to me in a Law Vegas hotel a long time ago. I turned on a lamp and cut my finger on a sharp edge. Called management. They replaced the lamp, photographed the finger wrapped in a tissue. They gave me $100.

Should I hire a lawyer to handle this or need one?

A lawyer isn't going to be interested. No real money in it. You haven't won the personal injury lottery. As a matter of fact I don't see any negligence on the part of the hotel owners. Negligence is the basis for a personal injury claim.

The hotel owners didn't manufacture the chair. Bought hundreds of them from a supplier. Couldn't possibly foresee a hazard. If anything, you might have a case against the manufacturer for a product defect. Good luck with that.

You can certainly ask the hotel management for money and see what happens. They may offer you something as an accommodation, but it won't be much.