In 2016, a mother and her daughter traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Louisville for a family member’s wedding. The daughter was nine years old and had been dealing with nut allergies since she was four years old. The couple planned their wedding at the hotel in downtown Louisville and was excited about the prospect of having it at such an iconic and neat place. They also believed that the local downtown hotel would take their guests’ health risks seriously.
The couple reiterated through email and phone calls that no nuts should be served in any food during their wedding. They told the Galt House that people in their family had severe nut allergies, and nuts could pose a grave risk to their guests. They even went so far as to include a “no nuts” clause in their contract with the hotel.
During the couple’s wedding reception at the downtown hotel, waiters brought out cookies for the children. The little girl asked the waiter if the cookies had nuts in them. After checking with the kitchen, he told her they did not. They did. She went into almost immediate anaphylactic shock. The mother had to carry her child to the tower of the downtown Louisville hotel to get an EpiPen to subside the allergic reaction. This created a horrible scene at the reception and was a terrible situation for the family. EMS was called and the little girl was taken to the hospital, where she spent the night.
The family hired Mr. May and Ms. Goetz to pursue the claim for breach of contract along with a negligence claim for serving food that they had warned could hurt their guests. The Dixie Law Group, PSC, recovered the full amount of the contract for the couple and a confidential settlement for the mom and little girl. Luckily, the little girl made a full recovery, or the situation could have been much worse.
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