A Banister Accident Resulted In A Wrongful Death

Teacher Dies at Halloween Party, Parents Sue

October is a time for kids to dress up and have fun while they go out and try to get some candy from neighbors and family. For adults, it can also be a time to dress up and have fun. However, most adults are less interested in the candy and more interested in having a good time with their peers, and sometimes this involves Halloween parties and alcohol. Whenever alcohol is involved, it can cause some serious issues, as you will soon see.

In late October of 2010, people gathered at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, IL for a party to celebrate the Halloween season. It was the Haunted Hotel Ball, which had grown from the previous year and would bring in about 2,000 people. It seemed like a good time.

However, it turned to tragedy for 23-year-old Megan Duskey, a teacher who was out and trying to enjoy time with her friends. At around 10:30pm, only half an hour after she and her friends reached the party, Megan suffered an accident.

The investigators say that she was trying to slide down the banisterfrom the mezzanine level of the hotel and that she lost her balance. She fell several stories down, reaching the basement area. She died instantly due to head trauma. Of course, that provided no solace to her parents.

Parents File Suit

Megan’s parents sued the hotel because they say they should not have allowed the event to have provided unlimited alcohol to attendees and not have provide adequate supervision. The banister from which she fell was supposedly in an out of the way area and was not a place where the guests should have been able to reach, according to reports. In addition to suing the hotel, the lawsuit also names Surreal Chicago and Adrenaline Y2K, the party event organizers. They sued for half a million dollars.

Who is Right?

Of course, this brings up all sorts of questions, and most people have a very firm opinion on how they feel about the matter, regardless of which side they believe. Some feel that the parents are right in suing the hotel and the organizers, as they should have had more security and they should have done something to prevent people from getting to areas that could be potentially dangerous. They also feel that those who were serving alcohol should have cut people off if they were too drunk.

However, there are just as many others out there that believe a person should be responsible for his or her own actions, and the amount of alcohol they drink. She was young, but 23 is still considered an adult, and they believe that a teacher should have known better than to do what she did.

The one thing that everyone can agree on though is that when she died, the world lost a loving person and a kind teacher who wanted to make a difference in the world.