UAE legal Q&As: What to do when toddler falls down unsafe hole at hotel?

And where responsibility lies when a guest misuses the internet connection at a hotel.

My two-year-old daughter fell down a hole at a hotel. We thought she had fallen to her death. She suffered a concussion and was unconscious. She was rushed to hospital and needed CT and MRI scans. Thankfully, she didn’t suffer any major injuries. Since the fall, she wakes crying in the night often and we don’t know if that’s a result of the concussion or nightmares. She had a follow-up appointment with a neurologist who noted neck pain and tenderness down her left side. We contacted the hotel’s insurance company and they said they wished to settle and offered Dh7,000, but we think their offer is unsatisfactory. Was it negligence on their part? The insurance company has stated that they don’t believe the building in question was liable. Do you think we have a case? I have photographic evidence of the site where our daughter’s fall took place.

The first step would be to obtain a medical report of the child’s condition and one that proves the child is suffering from a certain permanent disability – whether physical or emotional – as a result of the accident. The report would then need to be submitted to a competent medial committee, which will determine the percentage of the permanent disability. After this step you can file a court case against the hotel and the insurance company for negligence and you can demand compensation, making sure that you provide all the evidence you have that backs up your claim, including those photographs. The court’s decision will be based on the evidence in the case file.

If a guest at a hotel misuses the in-room internet connection, can the guest be held responsible or is the hotel solely responsible? Legally, what action could the hotel take against the guest?

If a guest has used the connection for an illegal action, that person will be held responsible, not the hotel. This is because it has only provided internet in rooms for its guests to use in a proper and legal way. Hotels will often make guests sign terms and conditions that will state that any illegal activity conducted on their premises or by use of their services is the responsibility of the guests. If the hotel does not make a guest sign such a document, it can still absolve itself of liability if it can prove that the guest was the one to conduct the illegal practice online. This is usually easily established as guests will be given a specific password to access the internet connection and so the guest’s liability can usually be proven by the hotel providing the court with documents that show it was the guest at fault.

* If you have a question for our lawyer, please email it to [e-mail] with the subject line ‘Know the law’.