Can I Sue if I Get Robbed While Staying at an Illinois Hotel?

 Posted on November 30, 2022 in Personal Injury

Whether you are staying at a hotel for a work trip, a family vacation, or a personal getaway, the hotel is responsible for ensuring you are provided with secure premises. This includes not only your room, but also the parking lot, lobby, pool area, and anywhere else the hotel operates or manages. 

While the vast majority of hotel stays pass without incident, sometimes bad actors take advantage of hotel patrons. If the hotel has a poorly lit parking lot, or if certain areas are understaffed, this could leave guests vulnerable to assault and theft. Furthermore, if a hotel does not carefully screen its staff’s criminal backgrounds, it may hire someone unfit to be trusted with personal property, which could result in employees who steal from hotel patrons. If you were staying in an Illinois hotel and you were injured, robbed, or assaulted, make sure you schedule a free consultation with Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices. 

What is Illinois’ Premises Liability Law? 

Every state has a premises liability law, and Illinois is no exception. To recover compensation for an injury that occurred on an Illinois hotel’s premises, you must prove four essential things: 

• The hotel had a responsibility, or duty of care, to keep you safe.
• The hotel violated that responsibility.
• The hotel’s violation of its duty of care caused you damage or injury.
• The injury or damage you sustained has financial value.

Certain people, like trespassers, are owed a lesser duty of care. However, for invited guests like those paying for a hotel room, hotels owe the highest standard of care when keeping guests safe. 

What Kind of Conditions Can Cause Injury at a Hotel? 

Hotels are hardly considered risky places, but, like anywhere else, improperly managed premises can cause serious injuries. Examples of how people might get injured at a hotel include, but are not limited to: 

• Slipping and falling in a restaurant, lobby, hallway, or parking lot
• Tripping and falling on poorly laid carpet, loose wiring, or other obstacles on the floor
• Electrocution injuries from exposed wires or poorly installed appliances
• Burn injuries sustained in a hotel’s restaurant 
• Injuries from other patrons’ behavior, such as assault, theft, or pets that are allowed to roam the premises 
• Injuries from visitors or trespassers, such as assault or theft
• Theft by hotel employees 
• Drowning in hotel pools that can be unsafely accessed by children 
• Insufficient lighting, security cameras, or security guards that allow trespassers, transient people, or other criminals to bother patrons 
• Unsecure locks on hotel room doors or hotel safes 

Contact a DuPage County Negligent Security Premises Liability Lawyer

Getting seriously injured and having your valuable belongings stolen while staying at a hotel can be a traumatic experience, to say nothing of the inconvenience of having to recover things like jewelry, money, and passports. If you were robbed or assaulted while staying at a hotel, contact a Naperville, IL premises liability attorney with Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices. We will fight to recover the maximum compensation to which you are entitled. Call us today at 630-932-9100. 

Source: 

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2048&ChapterID=57