Embassy Suites in Anaheim is now facing a civil suit filed by the parents of a 3-year old girl who died within the hotel premises. Jesus Martinez Avila and Alejandra Sandoval Duran, the parents of the little girl, allege that the owners and managers of the hotel were negligent in their responsibilities which then led to the death of their daughter. The lawyer for the couple filed their civil suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. The civil suit was a wrongful death case. If you feel like this has happened to you, please call a San Diego wrongful death lawyer for more information.
Civil Suit Allegations
According to the suit, the couple and their daughter came from Las Vegas and stayed in the Embassy Suites during their July 2015 vacation visiting Disneyland. It was during this vacation when the couple’s daughter Stephanie fell from a 5th-story walkway right into an indoor courtyard.
Other family members who were part of the vacation group said that while Stephanie’s mom was taking a shower, the little girl went out of the family’s hotel room. The rest of the family group was sitting in the indoor courtyard when they saw the girl 5 stories up. The little girl apparently wanted to join the group as quickly as possible, and so she climbed over the balcony railing.
Official investigators are still unable to determine exactly what happened next. The Orange County Coroner has ruled the death as an “accident”. However, investigators are still unsure whether little Stephanie climbed over the railing or was able to squeeze through the bars of the railing.
The lawsuit alleges that the “dangerous, defective, and unsafe” conditions at the hotel, which contributed to the death of the little girl. The suit names Brighton Management as well as Urban Commons Frontera and UCF 1 as owners of the Embassy Suites.
Legal Options in a wrongful death case
If you or any other person in your family is injured during your stay in the hotel, it is possible that you can claim compensation for the injuries.
That’s because hotels are obliged under the law to make sure that their premises are safe for all their guests, and that includes children as well. If any injuries or death results from failure to maintain the safety of the premises, then the management and the owners of the hotel may be held liable for the injuries and deaths.
It’s best if the hotels actually enact safety measures that can keep such accidents from occurring in the first place. However, not all hotel managers and owners fulfill this duty as diligently as they ought to. This failure underscores the importance of these civil lawsuits.
The lawsuit can help compensate for the medical costs and lost income, as well as for the pain and suffering experienced by the injured party or by the rest of the family in case of a death. But this civil suit can also compel hotel managers to put up safety measures that would have prevented such accidents from occurring in the first place.