Stenlund v. Marriott International, Inc.

172 F. Supp. 3d 874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39718, 2016 WL 1203749
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 22, 2016
DocketCase No.: GJH-14-1544
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 172 F. Supp. 3d 874 (Stenlund v. Marriott International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stenlund v. Marriott International, Inc., 172 F. Supp. 3d 874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39718, 2016 WL 1203749 (D. Md. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GEORGE J. HAZEL, United States District Judge

In this slip-and-fall negligence action, Plaintiff Paula Stenlund seeks to recover damages for injuries she sustained while she was a guest at the Panama City Marriott Hotel in Panama City, Panama (the “Hotel”). After Defendant Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott International” or “Defendant”) answered the Complaint. ECF No. 8, this Court issued a scheduling order allowing for bifurcated discovery. ECF No. 12. Phase I of discovery was limited to issues regarding the relationship between Marriott International and non-party Hotel Properties of Panama, Inc. (“Hotel Properties”), the owner of the casino where Plaintiff alleges she was injured. See id. The Parties have completed Phase I and Marriott International now moves for summary judgment. ECF No. 26. The Motion is fully briefed and a hearing is unnecessary. See Loe. R. 105.6 (D. Md.). For the following reasons, Marriott International’s Motion is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiffs Injury

For the purposes of this Motion only, the following facts are undisputed. See ECF No. 26-2 at 4-5; ECF No. 27-1 at 8-9.1 On or about February 11, 2011, Plaintiff and her husband checked into the Hotel. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 14. Before and during her travel to Panama, Plaintiff received Marriott marketing material promoting the Royal Casino in Panama City, Panama (“Royal Casino” or the “Casino”) as being “on-site” of the Hotel. Id. at ¶ 15. On February 13, 2011, Plaintiff visited the Royal Casino, and, that evening, she followed a Casino employee, at the employee’s instruction, to locate the place where she could cash in her winnings. Id. at ¶¶ 17-18. The route involved a set of stairs, .and Plaintiff descended the stairs while holding onto the railing. Id. at 1T19. Unbeknownst to Plaintiff, however, an electrical cord had been draped across the stairs from the railing to a lighted display at the top of the staircase. Id. ¶20. She tripped over the cord and fell forward, striking her head, face, and knees, causing her to suffer various severe injuries. Id. at ¶¶21, 26. The [878]*878Royal Casino staff.made.no effort to provide Plaintiff with.medical care. Id. at ¶ 22.

That same evening; the manager of the Hotel took pictures of Plaintiffs injuries and indicated that she would “make a full report,” but the Hotel staff also failed to provide any medical care or .a referral to a local hospital that evening. Id. at ¶ 23. The following day, the Hotel sent a doctor “or one who was held out by [the Hotel] to be a doctor,” to Plaintiffs room. Id, at ¶24. The doctor did not provide any substantive care, but only referred her to a local hospital to which the Hotel arranged transportation. Id. Plaintiff returned to the United States on February 15, 2011, and she continued to receive evaluation and treatment for the injuries she sustained as a result of the fall. Id. at ¶ 25.

Plaintiff initiated this action on May 9, 2014 alleging that Marriott International breached various duties that it owed to her and other guests, including a duty to ensure her safety, to avoid or remedy unsafe conditions in the Hotel and Royal Casino, to provide or arrange for prompt medical care,, to adequately train and supervise employees to detect and remedy unsafe conditions and attend to injured guests, to provide adequate warnings of dangerous conditions and to refrain from marketing or promoting the Royal Casino once Marriott International became aware that dangerous conditions existed or likely existed at the Casino. See id. at ¶¶ 28-35. The Complaint alleges, in Count I, a direct liability theory of negligence, and, in Count II, vicarious liability for the negligence of employees of the Royal Cásino. Id. at ¶¶ 28-41.

B. Marriott International’s Control Over the Hotel and Casino

Marriott International is a publicly-trad-' ed Delaware company with its principal place of business in Maryland. ECF No. 27-1 at 1: It is a hospitality company and a worldwide operator, franchisor, and li-censor of hotels and timeshare- properties in several countries and territories under numerous brand names. Id. On August 25, 1995,' Marriott International entered into an International Services Agreement (the “International Agreement”) with Hotel Properties, which was to last for a term of twenty fiscal years. See ECF No. 44-1 at 3, 15. The International Agreement was one of many agreements specifying the scope of the relationship between Hotel Properties and Marriott International and its various subsidiaries and affiliates. See id. at 20, Pursuant to the series of agreements, Hotel Properties was to construct and equip a “first class, full-service international hotel” in Panama City, Panama, for which Hotel Properties was to be the owner. Marriott International Services, Limited (“Marriott Services”), a Bermuda company and foreign subsidiary or Marriott International, was to manage and operate the Hotel. See ECF No. 40-1 at 6; ECF No. 44-1 at 3; EOF No. 27-1 at 2.

Pursuant to the International Agreement, Marriott International was required to “provide or cause its Affiliates to provide the International Advertising, Marketing, Promotion,, and Sales Program” for the Hotel. ECF No. 44.1 at 9. Marriott International was also required to provide certain “routine corporate and regional services” including “executive supervision and support from Marriott International headquarters” and “general expertise and general operational assistance in areas such as executive supervision, employee relations, strategic planning and policy-making, research and development, energy management, retail shop operation, insurance, life safety, meal planning, food preparation and service, accounting controls, and internal auditing ....” Id. It also provided “core training programs for the benefit or management-level Hotel [879]*879Employees”2 and other unspecified training programs for “Hotel- Employees,” whose participation'“shall be as reasonably required by Marriott [International].” Id. at 9-10. Hotel Properties was required to use Marriott International’s Reservations" System as well as its Property Management System, and Marriott International reserved the right to require Hotel Properties to use 'other Marriott Chain hotel systems “which systems are intended to benefit the Marriott Chain — ” Id. at 12.

On the same day that Hotel Properties and Marriott International entered the International Agreement, Hotel Properties and Marriott Services entered into a wholly separate, more detailed agreement — to which Marriott International was not a party — governing the managément or the Hotel by Marriott Services (the “Management Agreement”). See ECF No. 40-1 at 6. Marriott International’s obligations under the International Agreement were, however, conditioned upon, among other things, Hotel Properties performing all of its obligations under the Management Agreement between Hotel Properties and Marriott Services, as well as the other related agreements, including a License and Royalty Agreement, Fee Agreement, and Technical Services Agreement.3 ECF No. 44-1 at 20.

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172 F. Supp. 3d 874, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39718, 2016 WL 1203749, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stenlund-v-marriott-international-inc-mdd-2016.