Hotel and Resort Accidents

Michigan Premises Liability Lawyers Assisting Traverse City and Grand Rapids Residents

Whether you are traveling for work or vacation, you expect the place where you stay to be safe and relaxing. Unfortunately, there are many different situations that may result in injuries to visitors of Michigan resorts or hotels. These include slip and falls, swimming pool accidents, defective furniture, and inadequate security that leads to third-party criminal attacks. If you are hurt in a hotel or resort accident, the Grand Rapids and Traverse City premises liability attorneys at the Neumann Law Group may be able to help you. Our principal, Kelly Neumann, is an award-winning personal injury attorney who has a strong track record of results in premises liability, car accidents, work accidents, medical malpractice, intentional assaults, dangerous products, and other injury cases.

Taking Legal Action After a Hotel or Resort Accident

As with other personal injury claims, a premises liability lawsuit requires the plaintiff to prove that the possessor of the premises breached a duty of care. The highest duty of care is owed to an invitee on the property. A hotel or resort guest is there for the mutual benefit of the facility owner and them. Accordingly, a guest is likely to be considered an invitee, and a hotel or resort must use reasonable care to inspect the premises and either repair dangerous conditions or provide warnings to guests about them.

A plaintiff must also establish the hotel’s actual or constructive notice of the defective condition. For example, if you are injured because of a broken escalator at your hotel, you will need to prove that the hotel knew or should have known about the broken escalator. It may be challenging to prove actual notice, unless the hotel has a record of hotel guest complaints. However, if an escalator was broken for a sufficiently long time, you may be able to establish constructive notice. Because actual or constructive notice can be difficult to prove, it is important for injury victims to file police and incident reports after an injury, as well as to get the names and contact information of any witnesses who may have seen the injury or noticed the hazardous condition previously.

Sometimes an injury is not a direct result of a defective condition but a result of a third-party attack. For example, a hotel guest may be assaulted on the way to their room. Sometimes this is caused by inadequate security. While you may not be able to recover money from the third-party attacker, you may be able to recover your losses from the hotel or resort in a negligent security claim. IN an incident where a hotel or resort employee intentionally assaults an invitee, noth the employee and the business could be held accountable if the victim can prove that the business was negligent in hiring the dangerous employee

Whether you may recover compensation from the hotel depends on whether your attack was foreseeable to the hotel. Foreseeability often depends on whether there was a history of crime on the premises and whether there was a security failure that the hotel owner should have fixed that led to your attack. For example, if there were numerous assaults on the premises or in the neighborhood, but the hotel failed to fix security cameras or install guards, it may have been foreseeable that you would be hurt.

If you are able to establish the hotel’s liability, you may be able to recover economic and non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, mental anguish, medical bills, lost income, and lost earning capacity. Your spouse may be able to recover loss of consortium. Under Michigan law, you may be prevented from collecting non-economic damages if you are found to be over 50% responsible for your injuries, so retaining a skilled injury lawyer shortly after an injury is important for building a case to demonstrate the fault of the other parties.

Discuss Your Premises Liability Case with a Grand Rapids or Traverse City Attorney

When you go on a trip, you should be able to relax without fearing an unexpected accident. If you have been hurt at a hotel or resort, our Traverse City and Grand Rapids personal injury and premises liability lawyers may be able to help you recover damages. The Neumann Law Group also represents plaintiffs in Ann Arbor, Flint, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Wyoming, Saginaw, Muskegon, Midland, Holland, Warren, and Petoskey, as well as communities throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Contact us at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form to set up a free appointment with an injury attorney.