Hospitality

Hospitality companies often find themselves at the cross-section of multiple areas of litigation exposure. Our attorneys have a wide base of litigation experience that we bring to bear in defending our clients in the hospitality industry. This has allowed us to forge a strong track record of representing and advising a growing array of hospitality enterprises, including hotels, restaurants, casinos, resorts, golf courses, retailers, and cruise lines. Our particular areas of experience in the hospitality field include:

• ADA claims
• all aspects of habitability, including mold, bedbugs, and Legionnaires’ disease
• product defect claims
• premises liability
• employment practice liability (EPL)
• regulatory compliance, including health code compliance and liquor liability
• contract disputes
• personal injury lawsuits, including transient occupant claims

In our litigation practice, we represent some of the nation’s largest businesses. But with disruptive companies continuing to grow at the margins, hospitality is a rapidly changing industry. In this context, our attorneys are also adept at using their experience—including as former in-house counsel for major hospitality companies—to advise clients on liability avoidance, contract negotiations, and franchising.

• Achieved closely watched verdict at one-fifth of pre-trial demand in lawsuit for severe coffee spill injuries at a major Las Vegas casino
• Successfully settled several large, multi-plaintiff lawsuits against major Las Vegas casinos and international global hospitality groups relating to Legionella outbreaks and associated claims of Legionellosis
• Achieved full dismissal via motion of lawsuit filed by hotel employee in San Diego alleging severe personal injuries from violent attack
• Attained nuisance value settlement of a discrimination and defamation lawsuit brought by a medical professional against a national extended stay chain in Hudson County, New Jersey
• String of successful challenges to motions for class certification, including attempts by bedbug claimants to certify claims against two international hotel chains, and attempts to certify transient occupant claims against a major hotel conglomerate
• Prompt resolution of over 30 separate ADA claims against hotels throughout the United States over the last two years
• Secured dismissal with prejudice of hot plate injury case in Seattle against major restaurant chain
• Risk management experience—both via litigation and prior positions as in-house counsel—in nuisance abatement; safety and security, including partnering with law enforcement and implementing security plans; franchise contractual issues; and housing discrimination