As any traveler here in the U.S. knows, there are many things that can go wrong on a vacation, but when an injury occurs, especially outside your own country, such as to Canadians and Europeans who travel to America, many such people don't know what to do or the importance of hiring an attorney.
If you've been injured on vacation in a hotel or restaurant or elsewhere as the result of the proprietor's negligence or the negligence of another, whether your injury is in Southern California, in Buena Park, El Cajon, Murrieta, San Diego, Orange County, Escondido, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Anaheim, Buena Park, Santa Ana, Irvine, Palm Springs, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, Temecula, San Luis Obispo or any other destination in the United States, you should talk with an attorney as soon as you are able to allow that attorney to gather evidence before it disappears.
This story is a slight (okay, quite substantial) exaggeration of a client's stay at a four star hotel and the injuries he and his wife suffered while staying there and eating in their restaurant. Their story, even though it may be fiction, serves as a warning of what can go wrong even in the nicest of places.
"It was our first vacation in five years," the client said. "It was a trip I will never forget."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Everything was fine for about five seconds," my client said disgustedly. "That's how long it took the valet to unload the bags from the car, put them on a dolly, watch the dolly roll back into the car, startle the valet, put the car into reverse, hit my wife, an elderly couple and two other cars. Did I tell you that the elderly couple has sued us?"
"No, you hadn't gotten to that yet," I said.
My client nodded and gave me a copy of the lawsuit.
"I don't suppose you got any pictures of the damage, did you?" I asked.
"The camera was one of the things damaged in the first five seconds," my client said.
"So did the hotel give you a free room?" I asked.
My client glared at me. "After we unpacked the luggage and gave the hotel a bag with all the broken and alcohol sodden items in our bags, including the china and the duty free bottles we had bought in the airport, the suddenly seemed to lose the ability to speak English."
"That's interesting," I said. "Did the rest of the vacation improve?"
My client glared at me. "That's when it started to go downhill," he said.
"What on earth happened next?"
"In chronological order, they set my wife's hair on fire in the beauty salon, we both got sick from kiddies being in the swimming pool, the pool servers spilled food and drinks on us, I electrocuted myself in the bathroom of our hotel room, my wife slipped on water when the toilet overflowed and we got food poisoning from the food in the restaurant."
"I'll bet you were happy to fly home," I said.
"That was all the first day," my client said. "The first day of a ten-day stay."
"Surely you didn't stay at this shop of horrors for all ten days," I said.
"No, they transferred us all right," my client said. "Moved our things, got us a new rental car, agreed to pay the rental car company for the damages, paid for our hospital bills, replaced the items they had broken, and tried to restore the damage to my wife's hair, but looking back, we should have taken the next plane out of that town."
"Why's that?" I asked guardedly.
"Did you happen to hear about the hotel fire they had down there?"
"That was the hotel they put you in?" I asked.
"It started in our room," my client said.
I burst out laughing. "Sorry," I said."What day was this?"
My client held up two fingers.
I started laughing again.
"So now we have no clothes, no hotel room, the other hotels are all full because of the holiday, and second degree burns," my client said.
"Where did you wind up staying?"
"Where else?" my client said. "The local hospital."
"How was the food?" I asked.
My client glared at me again.
"At least you were probably safer there," I said. "Right?"
"Perhaps if we knew how to speak the language," my client said. "I thought American hospitals were bad."
"You're home safe now," I said. "That's what counts."
My client gave me copies of their hospital bills. "My health insurance plan says I'm not covered for these."
"Oh no," I said.
"The next time I tell you we're thinking of going on vacation, just shoot me," my client said as he walked out of my office.
If you've been injured in a hotel or restaurant accident in Orange County, San Diego, in the Inland Empire, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Escondido Personal Injury Lawyer and your Temecula and Murrieta Personal Injury Attorney on your case. Be sure to hire a California law firm with personal injury lawyers who can serve areas such as Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Anaheim, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Del Mar, San Diego and Indio so you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.
If you have been injured in a hotel or restaurant accident or personal injury accident of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at and learn how we can assist you. You can also call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson on the phone about your legal matter.
