My handicapped child was on a pool lift in a hotel. It broke with him on it causing him to crash down hard into water. Is the hotel liable
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My handicapped child was on a pool lift in a hotel. It broke with him on it causing him to crash down hard into water. Is the hotel liable
We are staying at a hotel in
GA. I picked this hotel because
it had a handicap accessible
room, and pool lift for my son.
The lift broke with him on it
causing him to crash down hard
into the water. He was so
scared he didn’t want to stay
there anymore. We are now at a
different hotel. I took
pictures and it was witnessed
by 4 people.
Asked on May 20, 2018 under Personal Injury, Massachusetts
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
The first question is--liable for what? You do not write that he was injured. You do not indicate that you incurred medical expenses. Except in the case of intentional wrongful behavior (e.g. trying to hurt someone on purpose), a person or business is only liable for physical injury and economic costs or losses. If, as you appear to indicate and we hope, you son was scared but otherwise unharmed, there is no recovery (compensation) to which you would be entitled.
Second, a person, business, property owner, etc. is only liable for accidents on their property when they are at fault, such as by being unreasonably careless. They are not liable just because an accident occured on their premises. So even if there had been physical injuries or medical costs, to recover compensation, you'd have to show that the hotel was negligent or careless in how it maintained the lift. That's not always the case: sometimes people maintain objects or devices and they fail without fault anyway. If you could not show that the hotel had been negligent, you would not be able to hold them liable.
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