Staten Island Hotel Accident Lawyer
Following Personal Injuries in a Motel or Hotel, Call Our Staten Island Hotel Accident Lawyer for Help
People who are visiting New York and the New York City metropolitan area rely on motels and hotels for a place to stay overnight, hold meetings or conferences, and rest. Whether guests are visiting for work, vacation, or a combination of the two, the law requires motels and hotels to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. It also requires these facilities to protect guests from other foreseeable harm. Unfortunately, our Staten Island hotel accident lawyer knows that hotel accidents resulting in personal injuries are common. Although there is limited data as it relates to guest injuries, according to statistical studies of employee injuries, hotel workers have higher rates of occupational injuries and severe injuries than the majority of other service workers in the United States. Part of this reasoning applies to guests as much as employees, notably because the building is open around-the-clock and slippery falls can result in disabling falls. Indeed, other statistics demonstrate that the top causes of guest injuries are slip and falls or trip and falls (42%), followed by security-related issues (40%), and then other instances such as struck by an object or defective products (15%).
Here at the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm, we help victims and their families recover compensation for pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and other damages relating to motel and hotel accidents. This includes offering free case reviews to learn more about your rights to compensation under New York law. If you choose our bodily injury law firm, and if we accept your case, there are no upfront legal fees or reimbursement of litigation expenses until we recover compensation for you. This means that there is no upfront cost or financial risk to begin working with our Staten Island hotel accident lawyer.
Types of Hotel Accidents We Can Handle for You
There are many different types of hotel accidents that could result in serious personal injuries or the wrongful death of an innocent person. Generally, most of these types of motel or hotel accidents are caused by the reckless, careless, or outright negligent conduct of a defendant. Some of the most common examples of hotel accidents due to negligent conduct or omissions include the following:
- Slip and falls, including on spills or leaks
- Trip and falls, including on uneven flooring, wires, bunched up carpets, and other hazards
- Inadequately lit walkways, stairwells, hallways, or areas
- Elevator accidents, including trip and falls getting onto or off an elevator
- Escalator accidents, including due to sudden stops, uneven flooring, or getting caught in the comb (or teeth)
- Defective stairs and stairways, including uneven steps, lack of secure handrails, or broken flooring
- Broken tiles in a room, including laceration hazards or shower glass
- Unsafe heating elements that cause burns or injuries due to smoke or CO inhalation
- Improper tiles used in bathrooms, which do not have the correct friction coefficient to prevent slips
- Vacuum cords by staff that present a trip hazard
- Broken or unsafe furniture that is not properly repaired or maintained
- Shock hazards from inadequately maintained or broken outlets or appliances offered to guests
- Parking lot accidents, including in parking garages
- Bathtub or shower accidents
- Ramp falls
- Ripped carpeting and flooring
- Unsecured windows that create the risk of falling through, especially for children
- Tracked in rain and snow that melts, and
- Other serious personal injuries caused by accidents in motels or hotels that our Staten Island hotel accidents lawyer can handle for you.
Who is Responsible for Your Hotel Accident?
Under New York law, all landowners owe a “non-delegable” duty to others to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. This duty requires them to perform routine inspections of the premises and either repair defects or warn and exclude others from coming into contact with the defects. Such duty also requires that landowners keep their premises in a well-maintained condition that complies with certain building and maintenance engineering codes and standards.
However, it is important to understand that a landowner could enter into an agreement with another party for indemnification and contribution. This is a type of “assignment” and agreement where another party agrees to take responsibility for the premises and be liable for damages.
Some other parties who could be liable include the following:
Tenants Such as the Motel or Hotel
Sometimes the landowner leases the premises to a motel or hotel. This is common in some properties where there are stores on the bottom floor and hotels in the upper floors. That means that the hotel is a tenant who has a right to lease the premises, but does not own it. In this situation, landowners will commonly require the tenant to agree to hold them harmless for accidents occurring in the leased premises (such as a slip and fall in the hotel lobby or in a room). Therefore, in order to preserve their rights to compensation under New York law, victims may need to commence an action against the landowner and the hotel as a tenant.
Property Managers
In addition to a tenant, sometimes a landowner will hire a property manager. Other times the hotel may be the one who hires the property manager. When this happens, a property manager may agree to be responsible for the premises and to keep it in a reasonably safe condition. This includes inside the common areas of the hotel, but also outside in parking lots, common walkways, courtyards, or other areas. Some property managers may even agree to regularly inspect and maintain individual rooms to keep them free from defects. Therefore, victims must also commence an action against property managers to protect their rights.
Housekeeping Services
Although some motels and hotels have housekeepers and service professionals that are employees of the hotel, sometimes hotels hire housekeepers and cleaning staffs from other agencies. These agencies may be the cause of a slip and fall or another type of hotel accident, especially if they failed to properly inspect, clean, or report a defect that they encountered. This may be a different entity than a property manager, especially if the hotel accident occurs in a hotel room. As such, victims must also commence an action against these housekeeping businesses as well.
Repair Companies
When something goes wrong in a hotel, oftentimes management will hire a repair company. This is particularly true when it is an elevator or escalator that is in need of repairs or an upgrade. Other times hotels will rely on other professionals like plumbers, HVAC, electricians, and contractors to help repair, install, fix, upgrade, or otherwise maintain certain systems. If a hotel accident is caused by the negligence of one of these hired contractors or repair companies, they may be liable to the victim and must be sued in addition to preserve a claim.
Restaurants, Bars, Caterers, or other Food Services
Many large hotels have restaurants, and even some smaller ones will have a bar, café, or food area. Although this may be maintained by a landowner or hotel by their employees, oftentimes that area is subleased by the hotel to a restaurant or a third-party such as a caterer is hired to offer food services to guests. Other times the landowner is who leases out the restaurant portion that sits below the hotel who is the tenant. In either situation, even when the name of the restaurant matches the name of the hotel, it can never be assumed that they are the same legal entity. Therefore, victims of a hotel accident in a restaurant must commence an action against the restaurant entity as well.
If I Am Not From New York, Do I Need a Staten Island Hotel Accident Lawyer to Represent Me?
Given the nature of hotels, many guests may not be from New York or from the New York City area. Victims who suffer hotel accident injuries may wonder if they can get a lawyer from their home state to handle their hotel accident case by seeking compensation in their home state. Others ask if they can use a lawyer from their home state to represent them in New York for their personal injury case.
Generally, since personal injury cases are “tort” cases, victims will need to commence an action in the state where the accident occurred and apply the law of that state. Further, due to venue provisions (what county a case should be commenced in), victims from out-of-state who are hurt in Staten Island often have to file a lawsuit in the courts in Staten Island.
When it comes to legal representation, only lawyers who are admitted to the New York Bar may represent a victim of a hotel accident occurring in New York. There are exceptions where an out-of-state lawyer can associate with a New York lawyer to handle just one case, but that requires an additional step of applying for permission from the court (pro hac vice). Although it might sound advantageous to have your personal lawyer from your home state represent you in New York, it is often a big mistake. Besides issues of not having experience working with New York law, out-of-state lawyers are also unfamiliar with the courts, judges, counsel, insurance adjusters, and the “going rate” of how matters are handled and settled in the area.
Thus, victims who are out-of-state and injured in a hotel accident will likely need to seek compensation in Staten Island and may have trouble recovering the full compensation that they may be entitled to by using an out-of-state lawyer who is not experienced with New York law. Therefore, victims and their families should call an experienced Staten Island hotel accident lawyer to represent them and their families.
Hurt in a New York Motel or Hotel Accident? Call Our Staten Island Hotel Accident Lawyer for Help
Motel and hotel accidents are some of the more complicated types of cases because they involve many difficult possible claims. Your Staten Island hotel accident lawyer needs to be familiar with premises liability cases such as slip and falls, elevator accidents, stairways, building codes, and common accidents that occur both outside, in indoor common areas, and in private rooms. Given that many victims may not be from the area or even New York, your legal team must also be able to work with treating physicians from your state and gain their immediate respect to help support your case.
The O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm has built a strong reputation as a personal injury law firm representing victims and their families through some of the most complicated and complex injury cases out there. We’ve gone head-to-head with some of the largest insurance carriers and fiercest defense lawyers in the region, protecting the rights of our clients. To learn more about your rights to compensation under New York law and how our Staten Island hotel accidents lawyer can help you, call us today by dialing (866) 927-3809 or by sending us an email through our “Contact Us” box available here to schedule your free consultation.