Can I sue for pain and suffering and also for construction design of the bathtub/shower in a Las Vegas Hotel?
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Can I sue for pain and suffering and also for construction design of the bathtub/shower in a Las Vegas Hotel?
On 8/4/17, I slipped and fell in the bathtub/shower in a Las Vegas hotel and
severely bruise the back of my left upper and lower thigh. The bathtub did not
have safety strips in the bottom and the bathtub was approx. 1 1/2 to 2 ft. in
height and difficult to enter and exit not only for me 57 year old but for the
younger members of my family also. On a couple of occasions one of my family
members slipped but did not fall. She wrote a comment about it and turned it in
to the front desk, which I think they discarded. The hotel wrote up an incident
report and I submitted pictures that were taken right after the incident.
Although, I did not go to the doctor I was thinking they were going to contact me
with some type of compensation, but they did not. I was wonder if I could sue
them for pain and suffering and also for construction design of the
bathtub/shower due to the height? Thank you
Asked on August 18, 2017 under Personal Injury, California
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Prior to filing a lawsuit against the hotel, it may be possible to settle the case with the hotel's insurance carrier. You won't have any case if you don't document your injury with medical treatment. Notify the hotel's insurance carrier in writing that you will be filing a personal injury claim.
When you complete your medical treatment and are released by the doctor or are declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in your medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain your medical bills, medical reports and if applicable, documentation of wage loss. Your claim filed with the hotel's insurance carrier should include those items.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports document your injury and are used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
If the case is settled with the hotel's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed.
If you are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the hotel's insurance carrier, reject them and file a lawsuit based on premises liability. Premises liability will be easier to prove than suing for negligence based on the construction design issues of the bathtub/shower.
If the case is NOT settled, your lawsuit based on premises liability must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. CA has a two year statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in a personal injury case. This means that the lawsuit must be filed prior to the two year anniversary of the date of your slip and fall.
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