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Does the Marriott Marquis Care About Drunk Guests?
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 26, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 26, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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This is definitely a case of when best laid New Year's plans go awry. An upstate man is now allowed to sue the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for $750,000. According to the Daily News, Jeffrey Dagen and friends got two rooms at the Marriott to ring in 2005 in the heart of Times Square. However, the Marriott decided to kick out Dagen's party when a woman was found "facedown" in a hallway right before midnight.
The swanky hotel was unable to find him and his friends suitable rooms elsewhere. So Dagen took off for his home near Albany - but he only made it as far as the Taconic Parkway, where he drove off the roadway into a tree, shattering his left leg and suffering chest injuries.
U.S. Northern District Judge Lawrence Kahn of Albany ruled last week the Marriott had a responsibility to protect Dagen from himself by not ejecting someone who had been drinking. "It was entirely foreseeable that [Dagen's] next stop after being kicked out of the hotel wasn't going to be on the set with Dick Clark filming 'New Year's Rockin' Eve,'" Kahn wrote in his decision.
Dagen's lawyer says, "We don't even know if that young lady was drunk or if it was food poisoning. The hotel just assumed everyone was overindulging and sent them on their way." Which is terrible - we wonder if the hotel has changed its policies since then. Maybe the Marriott (and other hotels) need a drying out room.
Dagen's lawyer says his client is "taking it easy" this New Year's.
Photograph of the Marriott Marquis from Wired New York
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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