British tourist wins five-year case against Abu Dhabi hotel over injury
A British tourist has won a five-year battle for compensation after suffering a severe injury at a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Hotelier Middle East reports that Emirates Palace, Kempinski Hotels and Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC) have been ordered to pay AED 200,000 (£36,290) to former guest Natalie Creane.
The 33-year-old was staying with her husband and stepson at Emirates Palace in July 2008 when she opened a wardrobe door in her room and a loose wooden panel covering the AV unit fell and hit her on the temporal lobe.
The Justice for Natalie Facebook page was set up by her family in 2012 and says that Creane was found by a hotel staff member.
According to the page, rather than call an ambulance, she was driven to a nearby hospital by the hotel's duty manager.
'With no prior history of such problems, she began to suffer from horrendous seizures and was suffering from the horrendous effects of a major concussion and was, therefore, incapacitated for months and months,' it reads.
She has since been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Intractable Refractory Epilepsy and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Following the incident, Emirates Palace referred Creane's family to its insurance company, but when talks broke down two years later, they were referred to the hotel's lawyer in 2010. The court decision was finally reached on 27 February 2013.
7Days reports that Creane had asked for AED 20 million (approx. £3,630,000) in compensation from the hotel.
A post by her mother on the Facebook page on 3 March 2013 said: 'This is the sixth time since the accident in the Kempinski-managed hotel in 2008 that my wonderful girl has been put in this life-threatening situation following terrifying seizures that will not stop.'
Ms Creane's family are appealing the decision, arguing the compensation is insufficient.
They say she urgently needs specialist neurological treatment that is only available at a centre for traumatic brain injuries and costs 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' along with ongoing surgery and cognitive therapy.
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