to sue hotel chain

[tosuehotelchain]

We were at a well known hotel this afternoon for Sunday lunch, after lunch we were walking through the reception area where DC (13months old) fell and split open their head on the corner of the table (adult shin height) we had to ask the receptionist for medical assistance, all the while DC screaming and blood pouring everywhere.

We had to take DC to A&E where he needed a GA, however because of past expeirence with this, it was then decided that our baby would go through the treatment and the horrid trauma with no pain relief, he needed 1 inner stitch and 2 outer stitches, and next week he will have to endure it all again.

I phoned the hotel to let them know the result, and asked for safety guards on the tables to stop further accidents like this in future, they said the would get back to me, due to the "design" of the lounge

Everybody has said to sue, as its the only way they know, that this hotel will take action.

I know this from expeirence sadly also with the chain.

However I feel uneasy about it.

Hope your little boy is okay. I do think however that even considering suing, when this was very clearly a preventable accident, would be madness. It's very normal to want to blame 'someone' but I think in this case, you may just have to acknowledge that you and DH took your eye off the ball as far as accident prevention was concerned.

for the OPs wee one

for the OP !!

Even just a threat to sue won't achieve safety improvements as the hotel management will be too busy laughing to get anything done!

atswim.....tbh I wouldn't suggest they change the decor. At a huge push I would suggest that they recommend patrons to supervise their own children whilst in the establishment.

I dunno NL, probably for a big hotel chain though from my own experience a letter with the words sue gets past more receptionists than the bog standard complaint (having workjed somewhere where we had to flag up letetrs with numbers by such terms: a Government organisation, the numbers then dictated who saw the letter.

If a manager reads it and thinks oh sod it, Secretary can you pop to Boots for some table end caps when you get the milk ta, it'd be worth it.

But do state what you want OP, and frankly if it's end caps put them in with the letter for the cost. I think I would if it stopped it happening again.

I think that YABU - why weren't you holding Dcs hand at 13 months? Should all hotels ban furniture?

If you cap the corners though there's still the edges - and the edge and corner of nearly everything else in the place.....

Why sue, how rediculous. Toddlers have accidents, call me old fashioned it's your job as a parent when you go places to spot these hazards.

Low tables, slippy floors, open plug sockets, doors etc and make sure you steer them away.

Letting a wobbly, just walking toddler free reign around such furnitue is a potential accident.

Of couse NL but it's minimisation isn;t it? corners are worse if you hit them surely? (I speak as one who is terminally clumsy and whose med records were actually kept in the hspoital reception as a child LOL!)

Anyway what I overall meant was:

OP if you;re after cash forget it, if you just want things improved undertsandable and a laudable aim even if it might not happen.

I never once mentioned cash, I couldn't care less about money!

I'm off now, cant be doing with the thread ds is now waking up from his two hour nap. I will speak to HQ tomorrow.

OP's last post has just confirmed what i thought all along. she is truly as deluded as i thought she was from OP but i gave her benefit of the doubt that sense might prevail. sadly it appears hers is a more serious case than it first appeared.

It's as much about how you hit things I think as it dependant on which bit you hit.

Dd1 is scarred from falling on to a ROUNDED WOODEN bar at the bottom of a chair aged 18 months. I should have sued....myself as I dropped her when I tripped on her pushchair....pushchair was made by Mothercare and they really shouldn't sell them to numpties like me.....shall I start a thread asking about that one?

sorry, second last post. xposted.

This was posted at 4.30 this afternoon yet the OP had time to:

Go to hotel this afternoon
Sit and have Sunday lunch
Pay
Have accident
Wait while hotel faffed
Get to AnE
Wait to be seen/assessed/referred
Get stitched and discharged
Return home
Phone hotel to complain
Get on comp and post

All within 4 hours and 30 mins

A very poor attempt

Even if this were not a troll YABU as a coffee table in a hotel lobby is not an unforeseen danger. OP should have been providing better supervision of a wobbly toddler

Well now I really don't believe the op - child has head injury and you let them sleep for two hours without stressing?

you do know that with a head injury NL, you CAN LET THEM SLEEP!

OP you are right - how ridiculous of a family friendly establishment to have tables, quite unecessary I would have thought and on the floor - surely they should have been out of reach....like on the bar, or suspended from the ceiling. In fact all furniture should be dispensed with. Very dangerous indeed.

Actually now you come to mention it I am quite uncomfortable with the idea of walls, they too could do someone an injury if they were to fall againast them, perhaps they should be padded?! Or is that some sort of suffocation risk. Gosh this is difficult. You definitely need some advice to consider the position because then of course there is the issue of the the floors, I mean all that expanse of hard wood or stone....how can that be safe...

I don't get this at all. Did you come home from the hospital, walk straight through the door onto the computer, set up a new account and post a thread with a title about sewing in a username including the word suing? If so, why do you then say snippily that you don't want to sue? Did you expect wholehearted support and are now backpedalling because you didn't get it.
And I agree with those who say you would be laughed out of a lawyer's office.
I am a lawyer - feel free to enter my office so I can laugh you out of it.
Even the play centre we go to doesn't have soft corners on the coffee tables!

Knew I missed an oportuntity to get my grubby little hands on some cash health and safety ideas over to Justine when ds fell over whilst I was mning - could have got millions a cup of tea and sympathy .

Obviously as mad as a box of frogs .

Oh Lordy

2 hour nap OP do you live in a different space time continuum or something? Blimey you have crammed in a lot this afternoon!!

Well I'm w NL here. A small child with a head injury does have to be seen quickly and should only sleep if given the ok by the medics. Hopefully tosue's child was given that ok, so no problem.

To Sue. I think you should write a letter to the company, if you really feel they have been negligent. I don't think for a second you would have a legal case and as others have said, raising such a case won't help you. but if the furniture is really unsafe, and let's face it, some furniture and room layouts are bonkers, then they might change it. and after all, that's all you want to do, isn't it?

"I'm off, can't be doing with this thread..." roughly translates as, "You rotten lot, you haven't agreed with me about everything - in fact some of you have had the nerve to tell me I am being unreasonable, so I am going to flounce off!!"

Well it seems to me that OPs DH isn´t capable in being in charge of a child in reins tbh.