The Taipei District Court on Friday threw out a woman’s lawsuit against the now-closed Sherwood Taipei hotel, where she claimed she was injured three years ago after slipping on a wet floor.
The court ruling said that the plaintiff, surnamed Chung (鐘), did not seek medical treatment immediately after falling at the hotel on March 7, 2019, and waited more than a month before visiting a hospital.
Chung, who worked for a technology company, was on her way to a dinner appointment at the hotel when she fell in the lobby, allegedly damaging the cartilage in her left knee, court documents said.
Photo: CNA
She later sued the hotel for NT$5 million (US$168,040 at the current exchange rate) in compensation, claiming that it was liable for her injuries because staff failed to mop up rainwater that had collected in the lobby and did not put up warning signs, it said.
In her filing, Chung said that the NT$5 million figure was calculated based on her medical expenses, the cost of paying for a caretaker during her recovery and her loss of salary over that time.
Sherwood Taipei management testified that Chung was wearing high heels when she slipped, but she got up and did not request medical treatment.
She then stayed for two hours in the restaurant, during which time she did not complain to staff about an injury or of feeling unwell, they said.
When staff called Chung the next day, she said that she had no problem walking, adding that there was no need for concern, they said.
However, on May 8, she contacted the hotel demanding that they pay her NT$5 million for the knee injury, but hotel executives said they believed she might have sustained the injury under other circumstances and declined to pay, court documents said.
In addition to waiting a month before seeking medical treatment, Chung reportedly did not inform a doctor of her fall until two months after the incident, the ruling said.
“The case lacked objective evidence to prove her slipping had a direct relationship in causing her knee injury, therefore there is no reason to hold Sherwood Taipei liable for the injury,” the court filing said.
The verdict can be appealed.
In February, the Sherwood Taipei hotel closed after 32 years, citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel and hospitality sectors.
Since opening in 1990, the hotel had received renowned international guests such as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, former US president George H.W. Bush, film director Ang Lee (李安) and Hong Kong movie stars Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) and Andy Lau (劉德華).
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS