Category Archives: Insurance

by | March 11, 2012 · 1:10 am

Hospitality Industry Fire Risk: Ohio Hotel Fire Likely Caused By Electrical Problem In Ceiling Area Of Indoor Pool; Damage Exceeds $1 Million

“…The fire originated in the ceiling area of the indoor pool, it was likely an electrical problem, according to the release…”

“…Flames traveled from the overhang above the indoor pool to other walls in the hotel… Winds forced the smoke and fire up to the third floor and fanned the flames…”  

Holiday Inn Express employees stood huddled in thin blankets near Frisch’s Big Boy as firefighters from 10 departments attacked the building with axes and water. Smoke billowed from windows with punched-out screens on the southwest corner of the building at 773 Hebron Road. The three-alarm fire was fueled by a strong wind, up to 30 mph, from the northwest.

Firefighters tore into the building and tossed debris from open windows. Between fire truck sirens, the hotel fire alarm and radio calls of several chiefs, communication was challenging but achieved, Huggins said.

Investigators determined the damage exceeded $1 million, according to the release. Inspectors at the scene said the hotel’s fire alarm system and sprinkler system functioned properly during the blaze, according to the release.

For more:  http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20120309/NEWS01/120309003/Everyone-out-Holiday-Inn-Express-fire-continues

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by | March 9, 2012 · 7:15 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: California Hotel Owner Charged With "Insurance Fraud" Over False Workers' Compensation Records

“…accusations that he dissuaded an employee from seeking workers’ compensation after a work injury and making false claims. The charges against him include two counts of insurance fraud, failure to maintain workers’ compensation insurance and passing bad checks…”

“…accused of paying approximately $890,000 less than he should have over a four-year period,,,”

The trial date for the owner of the troubled Brookdale Inn & Spa has been postponed because the District Attorney’s Office has filed more charges. Sanjiv Kakkar originally was scheduled to begin trial March 12 on accusations that he dissuaded an employee from seeking workers’ compensation after a work injury and making false claims. The charges against him include two counts of insurance fraud, failure to maintain workers’ compensation insurance and passing bad checks, according to Kelly Walker, a prosecutor with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.

Walker has just filed new insurance fraud charges against Kakkar and his wife, Neelam Kakkar, pertaining to insurance premiums. Kakkar is accused of providing false wage information to insurance companies to obtain lower premiums. In other words, he “grossly understated” the amount of payroll he was paying to his employees. He stands accused of paying approximately $890,000 less than he should have over a four-year period, according to Walker.

For more:  http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20133381/das-office-files-more-insurance-fraud-charges-against

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by | March 6, 2012 · 1:22 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: New York Hotel Suffers Thousands Of Dollars In Damage From Group At Guest Room Party; Surveillance Video Critical To Finding Vandals

 “…a group at a party in a room at the Towne Plaza Suites on Holland Avenue is suspected of ripping off wall lights, breaking ceiling tiles and ceiling lights, discharging fire extinguishers and spraying a can of Mace in the third floor hallway…”

Vandals caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to an Albany hotel early Sunday morning. Mace got into the hotel’s ventilation system so the second and third floors had to be evacuated and ventilated, police said in a news release.

Hotel staff members believe the vandals are associated with an Albany man who rented a third fl oor room at the hotel. Police received a call from hotel staff about the incident at 1:15 a.m. Sunday, but when they arrived at the hotel all of the partygoers had already left through the back door.

Surveillance video will be examined to see if any of the vandals can be identified.

For more:  http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2012/mar/05/0305_vanals/

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by | March 5, 2012 · 8:43 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Illinois Hotel Sued For $75,000 By Woman Claiming Bartender Drugged And Sexually Assaulted Her

“…The bartender got a key to the woman’s room from the front desk staff and sexually assaulted her as she was passed out in the room, according to the lawsuit…”

“…The suit names the hotel as the defendant, claiming the staff was negligent in allowing the bartender access to the woman’s room. The suit seeks payment in excess of $75,000 plus the cost of court fees…”

A Virginia woman filed a lawsuit against a Lisle hotel claiming a bartender drugged her drink and later sneaked into her room with the help of a front desk clerk and sexually assaulted her.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court Wednesday, claims a 31-year-old bartender slipped a date-rape drug into the woman’s drink while she was at the Lisle-Naperville Hilton on Oct. 27. The woman began to feel ill at around 1:30 or 2 p.m. and went up to her room before her food had arrived at the hotel bar, said her attorney Jeffrey Deutschman.

For more:  http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120229/news/702299617/

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by | March 1, 2012 · 1:24 am

Hospitality Industry Information Risks: Hotel's Store "Enormous Amounts Of Data" That Is Never Used; 100% At Risk And 0% Value

“…companies can go a long way toward reducing their exposure to significant losses resulting from a security breach by putting themselves on a “data diet…There is an enormous amount of information that we never use, but we never get rid of. It’s 100% risk and 0% value. As a risk manager, that’s the scariest equation you’re ever going to hear…”

While there is no way for companies to completely eliminate the risk of data breaches and cyber attacks, there are several steps they can take to reduce their potential financial and reputational losses, a panel of experts said Thursday at the third annual Business Insurance Risk Management Summit®in New York.

“The fact is that you’re going to be attacked. That’s the reality,” said Alan Brill, senior managing director of secure information services for New York-based Kroll Inc. A well-crafted cyber risk management program need not be wildly expensive or complex, Mr Kroll said, but should at least strive for “commercially reasonable levels” based on company size and industry.

For more:  http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20120229/NEWS06/120229881?tags=|338|299|302|342|303|335

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by | February 28, 2012 · 1:17 am

Hospitality Industry Property Risks: New York Hotel's "Fatal Elevator Accident" Caused By Service Company's "Maintenance Errors"

Maintenance workers failed to enable a door safety circuit on an elevator moments before an advertising executive was killed after stepping into the elevator in an office tower in Midtown Manhattan, according to officials from the city’s Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigations.

According to officials, the workers did three things wrong:

  • They never re-enabled the safety circuit after performing the upgrade and restoring the elevator to normal service.
  • They did not post a warning that work was being performed, as required under the city’s building code.
  • They did not call the Buildings Department for an inspection, as legally required, before putting the elevator back into service.

If the circuit had been working properly, officials said, it would most likely have prevented the elevator from moving abruptly and pinning the executive, Suzanne Hart, inside an elevator shaft. As a result, the Buildings Department is suspending the license of the owner of the maintenance company, Transel Elevator, that performed the work and will seek to have the license revoked.

For more:  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/city-blames-fatal-elevator-accident-on-poor-maintenance-work/

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by | February 26, 2012 · 8:23 am

Hospitality Industry Fire Risks: Hawaii Hotel Restaurant Fire Caused By "Gas Leak Behind Oven"; Originally Thought To Have Started In Grease Trap

“…Firefighters originally believed the fire had been started in the oven’s grease trap. However, twenty minutes later the fire reignited… Firefighters then discovered a gas leak behind the oven. Gas service was cut off to the restaurants fed by the line, and the fire extinguished…”

Fire safety officials will return to the Ala Moana Hotel later Wednesday after a fire broke out overnight at the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant inside the hotel.  When firefighters arrived at the hotel shortly before 2 a.m., they found hotel staff using fire extinguishers to put out flames on the third floor restaurant.A hotel guest told KITV4’s Ryan Kalei Tsuji he was never alerted by a fire alarm. 
 
 The Ala Moana Hotel said an initial alarm was sounded, but the fire was quickly contained so guests could remain in their rooms. The hotel said the Honolulu Fire Department determined that a hotel evacuation was not necessary.Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/30515611/detail.html#ixzz1nVKkYksE

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by | February 23, 2012 · 8:00 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Missouri Hotel Accounting Employee Pleads Guilty To "Stealing $170,000 From Petty Cash" Over Seven Years

Mosier was the director of accounting services at Springfield University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center. She admitted defrauding the hotel for more than seven years, beginning in January 2003, by inflating reports of spending from petty cash and diverting the money to her own bank account.

A southwest Missouri woman faces up to 20 years in prison after admitting she stole nearly $170,000 from a Springfield hotel where she worked.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says 47-year-old Janet R. Mosier pleaded guilty Wednesday to allegations in a federal information charging her with wire fraud.

A sentencing date will be scheduled later.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/ex-employee-admits-k-theft-from-mo-hotel/article_70d0ebf8-7847-5c2a-82b4-43288b0a9560.html#ixzz1nDl3Hzry

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by | February 22, 2012 · 1:26 am

Hospitality Industry Health Risks: West Virginia Restaurant Workers Hospitalized After Exposure To Hazardous Chemicals

Nine workers at the IHOP restaurant in the Shops at Trace Fork along Corridor G were taken to the hospital Friday morning after a worker mixed chemicals and released a cloud of hazardous material into the air.

About 50 people were inside the restaurant at about 9:15 a.m. when an employee added the wrong chemical to a dishwasher used to clean restaurant hardware.

South Charleston Fire Department Capt. Virgil White said the two chemicals — a degreaser and a chlorine-based cleaner — are used in routine cleaning at the restaurant and were mixed together in a way that created “hazardous air quality.”

Although the employees are familiar with the cleaning products used, White said, the employee “may have grabbed the wrong bottle to do his mixture with and it created this problem.”

One IHOP employee, who asked not to be identified, said “there was a big cloud of smoke and it filled up the air. It smelled like straight bleach.”

For more:  http://wvgazette.com/News/policeblotter/201202170049

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by | February 21, 2012 · 7:42 am

Hospitality Industry Property Risks: New York Hotel Electrical Panel Overheats Causing Black Smoke And Evacuation Of Guests

“..(the hotel)… will remain closed until an electrical inspection is completed at the hotel…the main electrical panel became too hot, causing black smoke but no fire…”

The Quality Inn, 10 W. Orvis St., and Dar’s Place, which is inside the hotel, were closed after firefighters responded early Monday to a report of smoke originating in the hotel’s electrical room. All power at the hotel was still off as of 5 p.m. Monday, although a generator was providing some lighting.

“It doesn’t look like we’re going to open tonight,” Mr. Stevens said at that time. “There’s still a lot of work to do. What they’re trying to do right now is get the heat turned on in the building.”

When asked if he expected the hotel to open up today, Mr. Stevens replied, “That will depend on what they do tomorrow. There’s a lot of work left to do to get the building up and running.”

Approximately 40 rooms had guests, all of whom were evacuated safely to Emmanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, 39 W. Orvis St. There, guests were served a breakfast courtesy of the church.

For more:  http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120221/NEWS07/702219855

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