Puerto Rican casino resort faces personal injury claim in Philly

A Bucks County woman who allegedly sustained a broken tailbone after she fell off of an unsecure seat at a Puerto Rican casino two years ago is suing the resort where the alleged incident occurred in federal court.

Levittown, Pa. resident Suzanne Coffey claims in her personal injury complaint, which was filed at the federal court in Philadelphia April 6 by attorney Timothy R. Hough, that she became injured on April 16, 2010, after she fell backward off a slot machine stool at the Gran Melia Golf Resort in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

According to the complaint, Coffey, a guest of the resort who was playing the slots around 10 p.m. that night, sustained a fractured sacrum, exacerbation of lumbar disc pathology and other injuries after she fell off the stool, which the lawsuit claims was located upon an uneven surface on the casino floor.

The lawsuit accuses the defendant of negligence for failing to adequately and properly inspect the surface of the floor on which the stool was located; failing to train its employees to inspect the seating inside the casino-hotel; failing to extend ordinary care to the plaintiff; and maintaining a trap upon the premises.

Coffey has incurred medical expenses as a result of her injuries, the suit claims, and she has also endured a loss of her ability to enjoy life’s pleasures.

Coffey has also suffered humiliation and embarrassment, as well as a “positive loss of the sense of well being to her great detriment,” the complaint alleges.

Coffey seeks compensatory damages in excess of $75,000, plus attorney’s fees and other court relief.

 

The federal case number is 2:12-cv-01773-ER.