Hammerstein v. Jean Development West
Supreme Court of Nevada
907 P.2d 975 (1995)
Hammerstein (plaintiff), an elderly guest with poor health, stayed at a hotel owned by Jean Development West (defendant) whose fire alarm had sounded unusually often due to malfunction or tampering. When the alarm sounded one night, Hammerstein evacuated down the emergency stairs (unable to safely use them due to his age and health) and slipped, injuring his foot. He didn't report the injury or seek treatment for a week, by which point it had turned gangrenous. He sued for negligence, arguing the hotel's chronic false alarms created a foreseeable risk requiring special evacuation precautions. A Nevada district court granted summary judgment for the hotel, finding no negligence. Hammerstein appealed.
Whether, to sustain a claim for standard negligence, the plaintiff must show that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care and breached that duty so as to cause an injury from which the plaintiff incurred damage.