Slip and Fall Accidents by Ice Machines in Hotels and Motels

Have you or a loved one been in a slip and fall accident near an ice machine at a hotel or motel in South Florida? Did your slip and fall result from improper floors or lack of carpeting or mats near the ice machine or anywhere else in the hotel or motel? Call us now to see if we can assist you with your case. We help accident victims in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties and all over Florida.

We handled a case where a mother of three slipped and fell near an ice machine in a hotel. One of our main positions was that the standard of care at the floor near an ice machine at a hotel had to be slip resistant or have carpeting or mats. As a result of the accident, our client suffered injuries to the lower back and right shoulder. We served a proposal for settlement that was less than half of the verdict obtained at trial. The jury awarded more than $1 million to our client (the best offer to us was $75.000.00, so we had no choice but to take it to a jury). Trial took 8 days. The case is now on appeal.

When you book a hotel or motel, the last thing you want to worry about is making sure that the floors are slip resistant. In fact, it’s probably not something that you think about. You might be on vacation or perhaps on a business trip. Whatever the case might be, your hotel or motel is your temporary home and it’s only natural for you to expect it to be safe. It is the hospitality establishment’s responsibility to ensure the safety of each of their guests. This applies throughout the establishment, not just in that one room. It applies to providing adequate security services and other aspects of safety and includes making areas safe so that people do not trip and fall.

When a hotel is properly constructed, there is a requirement that there be a nonslip or nonskid surface in a vending area that contains an ice machine. However, hotels and motels across the nation are failing to use slip resistant floors near ice machines causing unnecessary injuries to their guests. In the case referenced above, the floor was smooth-surfaced ceramic tile that had no visible texture. When there’s any type of spillage on these glossy types of floors, there is a greater risk for a slip and fall accident.

Hotels and motels should do everything possible to prevent these types of accident cases from happening. Some of the possible ways to address this hazard include placing a mat or carpet near the ice machine. Although having a mat or carpet in the vending area of a hospitality establishment isn’t a requirement in Florida and/or a national standard, the vending area does need to be slip resistant. Therefore, having a mat or carpet in place is a simple way of preventing these accidents.

The founding attorney of the firm, Dan Cytryn has over 40 years of experience representing accident victims.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident near an ice machine at a hotel or motel in South Florida, call us NOW for a free consultation at (954) 833-1440.