Dale E. Anstine: Frequently Asked Questions

I fell and hurt myself on a hotel's premises. Do I have any recourse against the hotel?

A hotel may be liable if you slip or trip and fall on the hotel premises — for example, on spilled food or drink in a hotel bar or restaurant, snow and ice that has not been cleared from a walkway, or on moist tile floors or other slick surfaces. You might also be hurt because of a design or building flaw (such as steps that are too steep) or the hotel's failing to light an area properly.

Does a hotel have any special obligation to protect guests around the swimming pool?

Because swimming pools create a potentially dangerous situation, hotels must be especially vigilant in designing, maintaining and controlling access to them. Disclaimers such as "swim at your own risk" are unlikely to protect a hotel from liability if it didn't use sufficient care to protect its guests, such as failing to install a fence around a pool. This is true even if you are drunk. Most courts require hotels to anticipate that children, inebriated guests and others might find their ways into the pool if safeguards don't keep them out.

Is the hotel responsible if I am the victim of a crime at or near the hotel?

A hotel cannot be held liable for crimes committed on or near the hotel unless it should have anticipated the crime (for example, the hotel is in a very high crime area) and could have prevented it, either by providing sufficient warnings or taking better security measures. In such situations, the hotel's general duty to warn you about dangerous conditions may extend to a duty to warn about crime in or around the hotel. Furthermore, the hotel's actions — such as failure to install proper locks on windows and doors, provide adequate lighting in parking areas or take adequate measures to ensure that passkeys are not used by criminals -- may make the hotel at least partially liable.

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Because accidents don't always happen during business hours, we offer 24 hour emergency service. Before you speak with a representative of an insurance company, talk to us. If you are unable to get to us because of serious injury, we'll come to you at your home or at the hospital. Our attorneys are always available to help you every step of the way, from meeting immediate needs to helping with your long term recovery.

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