My son was recently injured after tripping down a flight of stairs in a hotel, how can I make a hotel accident injury claim on his behalf?
It is possible to make a hotel accident injury claim on behalf of your son if he has been the victim of the negligence of a third party who were responsible for his well-being. The hotel should have performed a duty of care towards your son – as they do towards all of their guests – who should not have expected to sustain an injury in a hotel. Your son may therefore be entitled to claim compensation for a hotel accident if negligence has occurred – however a claim on behalf of a minor will require a different procedure. For this reason, a personal injury solicitor should be consulted at the earliest opportunity following your accident in a hotel to assess your claim.
It should be noted that a child cannot legally initiate a hotel accident injury claim, nor can they instruct a personal injury solicitor to initiate a claim on their behalf. For this reason, children who have sustained an injury in a hotel can make a claim for compensation once they turn eighteen from which they will have two years to make a claim – giving them until their twentieth birthday. However compensation for a hotel accident may be required before then in order to pay for medical and educational requirements, particularly in the case of a serious injury, and for this reason a parent or guardian can make a claim on the child’s behalf as a “next friend” at any stage between the accident and the child’s eighteenth birthday. While this may seem like plentiful time to claim for an accident in a hotel, you are advised to initiate a claim sooner rather than later as evidence may disappear and memories of an accident become less reliable in time.
Before you represent your son in a hotel accident injury claim, you must first receive approval from a judge as you will be unable to act as a next friend if you have a conflict of interest in your son’s claim – for instance, if you were the negligent party responsible for the accident. The next friend must also be prepared to accept financial liability in the event that the claim for an injury in a hotel is unsuccessful. If the claim is brought to a successful conclusion the compensation for a hotel accident which is awarded will be paid into court funds – after being approved by a judge – where they will remain until the child’s eighteenth birthday. However if funds are needed in the meantime for educational or medical requirements following the accident in a hotel, they can be released upon application to the court.
Following your son’s injury in a hotel, you may be too busy assisting in his recovery to consider pursuing a compensation claim for his injuries. However pursuing compensation for a hotel accident can assist him not only to help pay for his medical treatment, but also to help in his recovery and to readjust following his accident. For this reason you should contact a personal injury solicitor at the earliest opportunity following your son’s accident in a hotel to assess the claim and determine whether it has a strong likelihood of success. With professional legal representation, you are also improving the possibility that your hotel accident injury claim will be successful.
