Woman Scalded in Shower Files Lawsuit

Jenny Albano

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

A woman who was scalded from a hotel shower has filed a $100 million negligence lawsuit against the hotel.

Ethel Tropez, a Hurricane Katrina refugee from New Orleans who lives in Live Oak, Texas, says in court papers she was badly burned and suffered scarring and disfigurement in the mishap on March 29, 2007, in the Hotel Chandler. The hotel, where deluxe rooms go for up to $510 a night, is on East 31st Street near Fifth Avenue, three blocks south of the Empire State Building.

Christina Panzarella, Tropez' lawyer, said the water was much too hot for a shower and was close to boiling and because the stall door opened inward, once Tropez was hit by the hot water she was unable to escape the tight enclosure and fainted. Tropez lay unconscious in the shower for 30 minutes before her daughter called hotel employees because she could not get into the room.

Tropez was severely injured with third degree burns and required multiple skin grafts on her legs and other parts of her body and still must receive treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center.

The lawsuit, which seeks $100 million plus legal costs, says Tropez' injuries "could not have occurred but for negligence of the defendants."