Iowa Jury Awards Woman $1.2M for Hotel Fall

A Texas woman has been awarded more than $1 million for a fall on ice outside a Bettendorf, Iowa, hotel that shattered her right ankle and left her with limp.

A Scott County jury awarded 54-year-old Brenda Alcala of Dallas $1.2 million on Friday, The Quad-City Times reported.
Alcala sued after she slipped and fell at the Courtyard by Marriott at Bettendorf on Jan. 21, 2010. Her attorney, Mike Bush of Davenport, said responding paramedics had to spread their own salt on the hotel’s sidewalk to reach and help Alcala.

“When you own property, it’s your obligation to maintain a safe walking surface,” Bush said.

During the four-day trial, Bush called to the stand other Bettendorf Marriott lodgers who testified to the slippery condition of the Bettendorf hotel’s sidewalks.

Alcala has had two surgeries on her ankle and has had to take a lower-paying job with her Texas consulting firm because chronic pain from the injury keeps her from traveling, Bush said.

She also may need ankle fusion surgery in the future, Bush said.

“There’s a significant future earnings loss,” he said.

A message left Saturday by The Associated Press for officials with Marriott International was not immediately returned.