Tag Archives: Legal Risks

by | March 27, 2013 · 5:24 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Louisiana Hotel Sued For “Injuries Sustained By A Handicapped Guest”; Failure To Provide A Ramp Or Safe Access From Parking Lot To Room

“…the (hotel ownership) is accused of failure to provide a safe access/handicap access from the parking lot to the elevated walkway in front of the Hospitality Industry Injury Lawsuitsroom assigned to the (plaintiff)…an unspecified amount is sought for pain and suffering, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, permanent disability, medical expenses and loss of income/ earning capacity…”

A local branch of a national hotel chain is being sued on claims of damages for injuries sustained by a handicapped guest. Anne G. and Timothy Conwell filed a lawsuit against Days Inn Inc., Days Inn Hotel 10020 I-19 Service Road New Orleans, La. and Nguyen, Nguyen & Vu LLC in the Orleans Parish Central District Court on Jan. 22.

The Conwells claim that while registered guest at Days Inn, Anne Conwell, who suffers from a handicap, fell and broke her right arm, ball and socket joint of her right shoulder, struck her head and suffered severe injuries to her hip and back. The suit claims that the fall was a result of the defendant’s parking area not having a handicap ramp or other access from the parking area onto the walkway and entrance to the first floor level rooms.

For more:  http://louisianarecord.com/news/250306-texas-couple-files-suit-against-days-inn-for-damages

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by | March 9, 2013 · 8:19 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Idaho Restaurant Chain Sued By Male Employee Who Claims “Only Women Allowed To Work As Bartenders”

“…lawsuit claims that service manager (stated) that the Louisville,Ky.-based chain’s regional director “only wanted girls working in the bar.” The complaint (states that restaurant) told women employees to wear tank EEOCtops and shorts to work and to “flirt with every guy that sits at the bar top…”

A former employee of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Ammon alleges only women can work as bartenders there, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court of Idaho. Tim Fenton was employed at the restaurant as a trainer, bartender and server before his dismissal in October 2012.Fenton lost out on bartending assignments and Baird allegedly promoted a woman to tend bar that he had a crush on.

Baird also demoted Fenton from his position as a trainer allegedly in retaliation for his and his wife’s reports to Texas Roadhouse about the discrimination. Sam Angell, Fenton’s attorney, said his client made a formal complaint to the chain’s human resources department, but did not receive a report back regarding an investigation of the charges or its findings.

According to the Texas Roadhouse in Ammon, Baird is no longer employed at the restaurant. A representative for Texas Roadhouse corporate headquarters said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit so could not comment.

In order to pursue a job discrimination lawsuit in federal court, plaintiffs must first file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to Angell, the EEOC determined it would not be able to complete its investigation in the required 180 days so it issued a “Notice of Right to Sue.”

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by | February 28, 2013 · 7:43 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Restaurant And Nightclub Sued By Employee For “Significant Hearing Loss”; Music Volume At 96 Decibels

“…(the club) began offering its employees earplugs and hearing tests…it was then that she discovered her hearing loss. Initially, she said, one of the club’s executives said she could probably work at the door, but she Hospitality Industry Injury Lawsuitswas later told that would not happen. She was also charged retroactively, she said, for additional tests and treatment related to her hearing damage…”

Alexis Clemente knew the music was extraordinarily loud at Lavo, the celebrity playpen in Midtown Manhattan where she worked for two years as a hostess. Ms. Clemente had significant hearing loss in her right ear, most likely caused by noise exposure, an audiologist found. She was told to immediately stop working in loud environments to prevent it from getting worse.

After the test, she told her supervisors about the results, she said, and asked to be placed at the door, slightly removed from the din. But her employers refused, she said, failed to offer her another position, fired her and canceled her health insurance.

This week, she sued. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, was reported this week by The New York Post.

She often complained about the noise, she said, but her employers did not take action until last summer, after The Times recorded and reported volumes averaging 96 decibels, akin to a power mower, in Lavo’s restaurant. Legally, workers should not be exposed to that volume for over three and a half hours without ear protection. And Lavo employees said the volumes at the downstairs club were far worse.

For more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/nyregion/ex-hostess-at-lavo-sues-claiming-loud-music-damaged-her-hearing.html?_r=0

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by | February 23, 2013 · 8:35 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Restaurants Now “Randomly Targeted” For Wage Violations By Labor Department; “Liquidated Damages” Can Double Back Wages Owed

“…officials at the local U.S. Department of Labor office say that in prior years, they relied on employee tips to launch investigations… the random inspections now drive as many investigations as employee Hospitality Industry Wage Violation Lawsuitscomplaints…those probes increasingly turned up egregious violations including kitchen workers being paid as little as $2 an hour…Starting in 2011, the office launched a restaurant initiative, focusing on a different segment each year. The initial focus was pizza and pasta restaurants. Last year it was diners; this year, Asian restaurants…”

The U.S. Department of Labor is targeting Long Island‘s largest private-sector employer, the restaurant industry, charging it with widespread minimum-wage and overtime violations.

The department has launched a campaign of random inspections with growing impact: In the 12 months through Sept. 30, it obtained court orders against 89 employers for such violations on the Island — about half of the roughly 180 orders obtained in all the United States by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, according to Irv Miljoner, the Westbury-based district director for Long Island. Of the Island employers being sanctioned, 66 are restaurants.

As part of the stepped-up litigation, local Labor officials are increasingly seeking liquidated damages, which double the back wages owed. “Before this we would just go in and we would get back wages for a two-year period, and they would pay it and we’re done,” said Richard Mormile, assistant director of the Long Island office. “We have upped those consequences.”

Overall in fiscal year 2012, the office’s investigators found that local employers, mostly restaurants and diners, owed $8.6 million in back wages, up 28 percent from $6.7 million they uncovered the year before.

This year’s effort has already resulted in one of the largest settlements ever for the local office. An Asian restaurant chain with two locations on Long Island — Asian Moon, in Garden City and Massapequa Park — and a location in Westchester agreed to a court order requiring it to pay more than $1 million to settle charges that it underpaid 255 employees over three years and altered records to hide the violations. The department’s lawsuit charged that food preparers and dishwashers worked 55 hours a week without being paid overtime.

For more:  http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/jobs/u-s-labor-dept-checks-li-restaurants-for-wage-violations-1.4694410

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by | February 21, 2013 · 6:31 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Colorado Hotel And Restaurant Sued By Woman Who “Drank Bleach In A Water Glass”; Lawsuit Seeks $100,000 For “Negligence And Breach Of Implied Warranties Of Merchantability And Wholesomeness Of Food”

“…(plaintiff) suffered serious and continual medical problems, including the inability to eat effectively, persistent acid reflux syndrome, digestive problems and other symptoms…(her) relationship with her husband Hospitality Industry Injury Lawsuitsand her ability to care for her children have been affected…among the claims in the lawsuit are negligence, breach of implied warranties of “merchantability and wholesomeness of food,” loss of consortium and a violation of Colorado’s premises liability statute…”

A Basalt woman is suing the owner and operator of the Viceroy Snowmass, alleging that she was served and drank out of a glass that had bleach in it at the hotel’s Eight K restaurant. The incident happened during brunch in February 2011, according to the lawsuit by Janine and John Reichert. The suit, filed Tuesday in Pitkin County District Court, seeks more than $100,000. It lists Base Village Owner, the hotel’s owner, and Viceroy operator KHM Snowmass as the defendants.

After being seated, a waiter poured water for the Reicherts’ party from a pitcher, wrote their attorney, Alan Feldman of Aspen, in the lawsuit. “Immediately after Janine drank from the glass, she jumped up out of her seat, stating that she had drank chemicals and needed to get to the bathroom as she was going to throw up,” the lawsuit says. “Janine’s throat began to burn and swell up. … [She] raced to the restroom, where she became violently ill.”

John Reichert dipped his finger in her glass and allegedly tasted a bleach solution. The wait staff then cleared all of the glasses from the table and disposed of their contents, Feldman wrote. One Eight K employee allegedly told John Reichert that “it is typical for the water pitchers to be soaked in a solution of bleach for sterilization and that the waiter could have picked up a water jug soaking in this bleach solution, believing it to be drinking water,” Feldman wrote.

However, as Janine Reichert was talking to a poison-control operator, a manager allegedly told her that she had ingested merely the residue from the bleach left on the jug.

For more:  http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/156795

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by | February 14, 2013 · 6:34 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Tennessee Hotel Sued By Guest Who Lacerated Leg On Bed Frame; $400,000 Sought For “Lost Wages, Suffering And Disfigurement”

“…a cap on the horizontal support bar of the bed frame extended out several inches from the box spring, and the cap, made of a stone-like material, was chipped, creating a sharp edge. The sharp edge was hidden by a bed Hospitality Industry Injury Lawsuitsskirt draped over the box spring, “concealing the sharp edge from plaintiff’s view…(she had to be) treated for infection and other complications from the laceration (resulting in) medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, and scarring and disfigurement…”

A Florida widow and freelance author and illustrator has sued the Red Roof Inn in Clinton for up to $400,000 over a leg laceration she says she received while staying at the hotel in August. Lauretta J. Evans, 76, said she was on her way home to Florida on Aug. 7 when she stopped at the Red Roof Inn on Buffalo Road, according to a lawsuit filed in Anderson County Circuit Court on Feb. 8.

As she prepared to go to sleep, Evans said, she sat on a bed in the room and “immediately felt a sharp and intense pain in her lower left leg. Plaintiff looked down to see that she had sustained a severe laceration to her lower left leg, and perceived that she was bleeding profusely,” the lawsuit said.

It said emergency medical personnel were called to the scene, and Evans was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

“This concealed sharp edge constituted a dangerous condition that represented a latent defect undiscoverable by the plaintiff,” the lawsuit said.

The Red Roof Inn, also referred to in the lawsuit as Sant Partnership, had a duty to keep its place of business, including rooms assigned to patrons such as Evans, free of “latent defects and dangerous conditions,” the suit said.

For more:  http://oakridgetoday.com/2013/02/13/florida-widow-sues-clinton-hotel-over-leg-laceration/

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by | February 12, 2013 · 6:59 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Restaurant Sued By Woman Hit By Car Outside Building; Neglected To Install “Curbs And Bollards”

“…the (plaintiff’s attorney) said Wendy’s only installed pedestrian safety blocks after the crash in December. He said if the restaurant had curb stops and bollards in place at the time of the incident, the tragedy would Hospitality Industry Injury Lawsuitshave been prevented…”

Theresa DiMilia and her 11-year-old daughter Samantha walked out of the Wendy’s restaurant on December 4 in Williston Park when suddenly a car being driven by an elderly woman smashed into them and pinned them against the wall. “The pain was so unbearable. I remember my daughter Samantha asking me if she was dead — ‘Am I alive mommy, am I alive?’” Theresa DiMilia told 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera.

Their legs were crushed. Samantha DiMilia was treated and released after suffering a severely fractured leg. Now, two months later, Samantha is walking again, but Theresa DiMilia is still in a wheelchair after having both legs fractured in the incident.

The lawsuit names the driver of the vehicle who hit the DiMilias — 75-year-old Margaret Hogarty of Mineola — as well as Wendy’s International Inc. and Westbury Properties, LLC, which owns the property where the restaurant is located, as defendants.

For more:  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/02/11/wendys-named-as-defendant-in-multimillion-suit-filed-by-injured-mother-daughter/

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by | February 10, 2013 · 8:14 am

Hospitality Industry Health Risks: “Norovirus Food Poisoning” Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against Wyoming Restaurant; Health Department Report Confirms Outbreak Source

“…according to the WDOH, 31 employees who worked at the Golden Corral restaurant were infected with norovirus while working…the lawsuit was filed on behalf of (those who) purchased food or drink at the Golden Norovirus OutbreakCorral Casper restaurant between November 20, 2012 and December 13, 2012 and (were exposed to) diarrhea and vomiting from multiple employees of the Golden Corral…”

Customers of the Casper, Wyoming Golden Corral filed a class action lawsuit against the restaurant Friday, alleging they were part of a norovirus food poisoning outbreak that was traced to food served at the restaurant in December. The lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in Wyoming (Case Number 13CV024J) by Jason Ochs of The Ochs Law Firm and William Marler of Marler Clark.

According to a Wyoming Department of Health (WDOH) report, at least 305 patrons of the Casper Golden Corral restaurant became ill with norovirus infections after eating at the restaurant between November 17, 2012 and December 19, 2012. Norovirus infection causes nausea, diarrhea and/or vomiting and is highly infectious. Investigators from the Wyoming Department of Health Infectious Disease Epidemiology Program and Casper-Natrona County Health Department stated in their report that they were not able to determine exactly how norovirus was introduced to the restaurant, but said ill food-handlers could have contributed to the spread of norovirus among Golden Corral patrons.

The complaint states that named plaintiff Paul Feyhl, a Casper resident, ate at the Golden Corral restaurant on December 8, 2012 and subsequently fell ill with norovirus. According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mr. Feyhl and “others similarly situated” who purchased food or drink at the Golden Corral Casper restaurant between November 20, 2012 and December 13, 2012 and whose exposure to norovirus was caused by:

1.    Exposure from diarrhea and vomiting from multiple employees of the Golden Corral
2.    Consumption of contaminated food and drink prepared by Golden Corral employees
3.    Exposure to, or close proximity with, persons who ate food or drink at the Golden Corral restaurant or were exposed to the restaurant’s infected employees.

For more:  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10414517.htm

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by | February 8, 2013 · 7:52 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Restaurant Sued By Former Delivery Workers For Deducting Money To Pay For “Online Order Service Fees”

“…the judge (stated) that tip deductions “were only permissible to the extent that they ‘did not enrich [the employer], but instead, at most, merely restored it to the approximate financial posture it would have occupied Hospitality Industry Lawsuitif it had not undertaken to collect credit card tips for its employees…the restaurant unlawfully retained almost $17,000 and compared the practice to passing on the cost of rent or materials to delivery workers…”

A lawsuit brought by former delivery workers against an Upper West Side restaurant that deducted money from their tips to pay the service fees of food-delivery Web sites can proceed, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling came in a suit filed against Indus Valley, on Broadway at West 100th Street, where eight former delivery workers say the restaurant kept 12 to 15 percent of their tips when customers placed their orders through services like Seamless and Grubhub.com.

Indus Valley sought to have the suit dismissed. It admitted to withholding the workers’ tips but said the practice was permissible to recoup fees charged by online delivery sites, in the same way that restaurants are allowed to deduct a percentage from tips left via credit card to cover credit card companies’ fees for converting those tips to cash.

But the judge, Alison J. Nathan of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, rejected both Indus Valley’s argument and its request to dismiss the suit. A representative from Indus Valley declined to comment.

The service agreements with the delivery Web sites included charges for commissions and “advertisement fees,” in addition to  credit card processing fees. The agreements, Judge Nathan wrote, “suggest that Indus Valley deducted from gratuities costs beyond those incurred as the result of converting credit card gratuities to cash.”

A lawyer for the workers, Jane Chung, said that labor law bars restaurants from taking from workers’ tips without an explicit exemption, and said that the judge’s ruling effectively declares Indus Valley’s practice illegal.

For more:  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/restaurant-loses-effort-to-have-ex-delivery-workers-suit-dismissed/

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by | February 6, 2013 · 6:02 pm

“2013 Hospitality Law Conference”: Petra Risk Solutions To Host The “Convergence Of Risk Management, Legal Compliance And Loss Prevention” Workshop On Feb 11

Hospitality Law Conference flyer-page-001

Hospitality Law Conference flyer-page-001

Hospitality Law Conference flyer-page-001

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