A New Jersey couple is suing Miami’s famous Biltmore Hotel, alleging negligence over dirty conditions in a room after they said their 2-year-old daughter was found with a used condom in her mouth.
The hotel room also contained broken glass and other trash, according to the complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The Biltmore provided another hotel room, but it was infested with roaches, the lawsuit claims.
The hotel also did little to provide the family with health care after the condom incident and the child developed lesions on her face, the complaint alleges.
The hotel company has denied all of the allegations and said it has no knowledge of the cleanliness issues. The suit, filed in August, appears to be headed for trial. The judge in the case has denied the plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages.
The lawsuit notes that the couple, Kathleen Hanrahan and Matthew McDarby, were living in New Jersey at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in late 2020. They decided to get away from things and spend Christmas in sunny South Florida. Still concerned about the potential spread of the virus, they did extensive research and determined that the Biltmore, in Coral Gables, one of Florida’s swankiest neighborhoods, billed itself as an industry leader in disinfecting rooms.
After checking in, they found their vacation had turned into a “nightmare,” the suit claims.
“To their horror, on Christmas morning, they found their two-year-old daughter with a used, discarded condom in her mouth,” the complaint reads.
The front desk sent a housekeeper who removed the condom and left.
The hotel owed “a duty of care” to its patrons but breached that by “failing to use ordinary care in cleaning the hotel room and preparing it for occupancy,” the suit argues. At the least, care should have included vacuuming the floor and removing trash, including biological debris, the attorneys for the family said.
The suit does not name the hotel’s liability insurer.
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