Legal Duties of Others Related to Hotels and Motels

Hotel and motel operators and owners aren’t the only ones who have legal duties to guests and visitors at a resort property. As a general matter, in day-to-day life every person has a duty not to harm others, and that applies as much to behavior at hotels and motels as it does anywhere else. People may like to say things like “What happens here, stays here,” but in fact, actions have consequences wherever they happen. So, for example:

• Guests have a duty not to harm other guests;
• Food suppliers have a duty to supply safe, edible food;
• Third-party maintenance contractors have a duty to do their jobs in a manner that does not foreseeably harm guests and visitors; and
• Architects and engineers have a duty to design and build safe, structurally-sound facilities and amenities.

What Happens When Someone Breaches a Legal Duty?

A violation of a legal duty like the ones listed above, generally speaking, makes the person who violated the duty liable for damages to anyone harmed as a result. Any of the parties above, in other words, could have a legal liability for damages in a case involving an injury or death at a hotel or motel. So could some other parties, not necessarily named above, as a result of their legal relationships to whomever violated the duty. The job of a skilled hotel and motel accident injury attorney like Tatiana Boohoff involves, in part, investigating the facts and circumstances of an incident that harmed her client, so as to identify the parties with potential legal liability and the ability to pay damages. Personal injury lawyers often, but not always, focus on the parties who have insurance available to pay damages. Then, those lawyers begin the process of negotiating and/or litigating to recover those damages.

Common Damages for Hotel and Motel Accident Injuries

An attorney who concludes she can prove a party has legal liability to her client typically starts by making a demand upon that party and/or its insurer for the maximum amount of damages allowable under the law. Oftentimes, the demand alone will prompt the other party to negotiate and offer a fair and reasonable settlement. Occasionally, however, negotiation will prove unsuccessful, and the attorney will advise her client to authorize filing a legal action for damages. Whether through settlement or a judgment from a court, there are two general categories of compensatory damages an injured hotel or motel guest/visitor can seek from the parties with potential legal liability: economic (or special) damages, and non-economic (or general) damages. Economic damages are fixed costs the injured guest/visitor, or the family of a guest/visitor who died at a property, incurred because of the incident. Typically, these damages include:

• Present and future medical costs;
• Replacement services, including those involved with changing travel plans on short notice;
• Chronic or long-term care costs;
• Assistive medical devices and home modifications;
• Lost wages from time off from work while recovering or mourning; and
• Lost income or employment opportunity due to injuries, disability, or death.

Anyone with legal liability may, under Washington law, be allowed to pay these economic damages in installments rather than as a lump-sum. Non-economic damages are those that do not have fixed costs associated with them, but are instead more subjective and difficult to quantify. They include:

• Pain and suffering;
• Damage to personal relationships (a.k.a. loss of consortium/companionship/parent-child relationship); and
• Negative impacts on quality of life.

In Washington State, the law caps non-economic damages at a maximum of 43 percent of the average annual wage in Washington (which is an amount fixed by law) multiplied by the injured person’s life expectancy at the time of the incident (but not less than 15 years). Unlike many states, so-called punitive or exemplary damages are generally not available in Washington State lawsuits.

Benefits of Hiring an Experienced Hotel and Motel Accident Injury Attorney as Soon as Possible

Sustaining an injury or enduring a tragic loss of life because of a condition at a hotel or motel usually sends the victims’ lives into immediate chaos. They’re often far from home and in an unfamiliar location. Just getting medical care and managing the costs and inconvenience of contending with an unexpected injury and an unplanned hospital stay can feel overwhelming. The team at Boohoff Law understands just how stressful and upsetting that moment in life feels. We understand how hiring a lawyer might be the last thing on someone’s mind. It may surprise you to hear, however, how helpful hiring a lawyer right away can be in that situation. As a law firm, our aim is to take as much of the burden of an unexpected injury or loss off our clients’ shoulders as possible. In cases involving hotel and motel injuries, we aim to serve as our clients’ support system away from home. The sooner we get involved, the sooner we can get started investigating what happened (before evidence starts to disappear and witnesses start to forget), sorting out insurance complications that accompany hospital stays far from home, and protecting our clients’ legal rights to compensation. We pay close attention to that last task. Hotels and motels, in particular, have a strong financial interest in trying to accommodate guests who get injured with free perks and upgrades. They do this hoping the guest or visitor will leave happy, forget the incident, and perhaps post positively about the experience on social media. But beware: Seemingly friendly gestures from a hotel owner or operator, like a voucher, a comped room, or a free future stay, often come with an implied relinquishment of the injured guest’s legal rights to seek compensation. Talk with a lawyer first before accepting any benefit from a hotel or motel where you sustained an injury or loss. The same goes for insurance companies. Do not say yes to an offer of quick settlement from an insurance company for a hotel or motel. Insurers are in the business of limiting their policyholders’ financial exposure. Quick money is lowball money, in our experience. Never accept a settlement and never sign anything until first consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney like the team at Boohoff Law.

Call Boohoff Law’s Seattle Hotel and Motel Accident Injury Lawyers Now

Boohoff Law is a team of skilled, committed lawyers and legal professionals who put their clients’ interests above all others. Let us be your support system away from home after you sustain an injury or tragedy strikes during a hotel or motel stay. Call us now at 877-999-9999 or write to Boohoff Law online to schedule a free, confidential, no-obligation case consultation.