Case Study – Litigation/Personal Injury Defense

Problem: Our clients, a hotel operator and franchisor, were sued by a guest at a hotel in the Bahamas. After renting a personal watercraft, the guest suffered serious injuries and was stranded for hours before being rescued by the Coast Guard. He eventually recovered but brought a suit against our clients that could have cost our client hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Resolution: Partner Christopher Kennedy won motions to dismiss in the trial court and successfully defended the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The unanimous ruling was published in the Federal Reporter at 466 F3d 558, and was analyzed on the front page of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (“Trial Notebook: Caribbean Vacationer Gets Marooned with Bahamian Tort Law”, November 29, 2006, page A1).