Duluth Hotel and Resort Injury Lawyer

Your Accident

All accidents are upsetting, but when you’re injured while away from home on a holiday or business trip, it can be that much more surreal and difficult. If a hotel or resort’s negligence has caused you to be injured, you may well be at a loss for how best to proceed. You, however, can support your own well-being and the strength of your personal injury claim. There are a variety of accidents that can occur at hotels and resorts, including the following:

• Slip and falls
• Swimming pool and spa accidents
• Recreational accidents
• Outbreaks of food-borne illness
• Boating accidents
• Accidents involving exercise equipment
• Accidents related to malfunctioning elevators or escalators

The Hotel or Resort

While it’s true that hotels and resorts are in the hospitality business and are, therefore, in the business of providing you with a comfortable, relaxing, and enjoyable stay, they are first and foremost in the business of turning a profit. This means that the resort—especially if it’s a large entity—will very likely be willing to flex its insurance muscles to either disprove your negligence claim or to minimize your payout. Insurance companies, we must point out, are also in the business of turning a profit, and the insurance company and the hotel, together, are not going to make this easy for you.

First Things First

If you’ve been injured in a hotel or resort accident, your natural inclination may be to brush it off out of embarrassment or to apologize—simply because it’s ingrained in most of us to apologize after causing a fuss even when we aren’t at fault. Resist these temptations, and seek medical attention. Injuries don’t always show up in the immediate aftermath of an accident, and injuries that aren’t treated right away can develop into far more serious injuries over time. Finally, the sooner you seek medical attention, the better your prognosis. Obtaining medical treatment isn’t just best for your health and well-being it’s also best for your personal injury claim.

Evidence Gathering

Evidence related to an accident at a hotel has a way of disappearing very quickly, so gather evidence as soon after the accident as possible—this evidence can go a long way toward supporting your personal injury claim. If you can’t gather the evidence yourself, enlist a family member, friend, or bystander to do it for you. There are several types of evidence that you should focus on:

• Take pictures and videos with your smartphone that depict the scene of the accident. Be sure to get wide-angle overviews and close-ups of the details. Include everything that you think may have contributed to or exacerbated the accident. You really can’t snap too many pictures, so go a little wild with this one.
• Talk to bystanders and take eyewitness testimonies—don’t forget to obtain eyewitness contact information. Bystanders may even have captured pictures or videos of the accident in action or of the accident scene, and it can’t hurt to ask. Other guests at the hotel are naturally saddened to see you injured, and they are usually motivated to help.
• Jot down your recollections of exactly how the accident happened in your own words and as soon after the accident as possible—include every detail that you can think of. This contemporaneous document can help preserve your complete memories, which can dim in the mayhem of an accident, and strengthen your claim.
• Check around for surveillance cameras, which most hotels and resorts implement. Note their location, and let the hotel know that you expect to be able to access the footage from the date and time of your accident as your claim progresses.

Hotel Accident Report

Most insurance providers require accident reports as an element of hotel safety procedures, so when you’re up to it, request that the hotel or resort write up an accident report. In this report, it’s imperative that you stick strictly to the facts as they pertain to your accident—the where, what, when, and how of the thing. This report is not your moment to get creative, to apologize, or to engage in a stream of consciousness narrative; it is merely a succinct record of exactly what happened. Your experienced personal injury attorney can walk you through this report and help ensure that you don’t misstep, which could later be misconstrued by the insurance company as an admission of fault.

After the Accident

If you’ve been injured in a hotel or resort accident, it’s important to carefully follow the steps outlined above. After the accident, however, it’s also important to continue to comport yourself with the utmost dignity. You’re naturally upset, but if you run around in an outburst of outrage, it can be used to impugn your character later.

If You Were Injured in a Hotel or Resort Accident, Consult with a Skilled Personal Injury Lawyer at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC Today

If you’ve been injured in an accident that was caused by a resort or hotel’s negligence, you’re likely unsure about what to do next. David Brauns at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, understands how difficult these claims can be, and he’s here to help. David has the experience, skill, and dedication to necessary to navigate your claim toward its most positive resolution. Please contact or call us at 404-418-8244 for a free consultation today.