Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Texas Hotel Sued By Woman For "Negligence And Defamation" After Air Conditioning Unit In Room Causes Fire

 “…she lost her laptop, college course materials and “over 30 billable hours worth of work for freelance architecture jobs she was in the process of completing at the time the fire occurred.”

      She seeks damages for negligence and defamation.

A woman claims in court that she had to spend the night in a “fire-ravaged” hotel room among her charred personal belongings, while hotel employees spread false rumors that she had “tried to burn the hotel down.”      LaTanya Stevenson sued Hotel USA Partners LLC dba Crowne Plaza Austin, in Travis County Court.      Stevenson, a state worker, claims she attended a three-day regional administrative service conference at the Crowne Plaza in November 2011.      She says the hotel gave her a room where the air-conditioner was stuck on the coldest setting. Unable to budge the “black and nonresponsive” temperature controls, Stevenson says, she reported the problem to the front desk.

“When Ms. Stevenson was finally given an opportunity to speak to a member of the fire department, she learned from the fire marshal that the malfunctioning air conditioning unit, not her laptop was the root of the fire,” the complaint states. “She got back to her room to find all of her belongings either severely damaged by the water from the sprinkler system or charred by the flames, which emanated from the bad climate control unit.

For more:  http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/21/46648.htm

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