A Kentucky motel has been ordered to pay $2 million to the family of a 76-year-old Tennessee man who was scalded by his morning shower and died months later. According to court documents, food vendor Alex Chronis was scalded by 150-degree water when he turned on the shower at the Econo Lodge in Erlanger, Kentucky, in November 2021, NBC News reports. He was knocked to the floor of the tub by the hot water and was rescued by two co-workers staying in the room who heard his screams, a lawsuit stated.
Chronis was hospitalized in Kentucky for almost five months. The Knoxville resident was later transferred to a rehabilitation facility in his hometown but his condition didn't improve and he died in June 2022, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. "He had to go through skin grafting because he had deep-tissue second- and third-degree burns from the scalding temperature of the shower at the hotel," family attorney Jefferey Blankenship tells NBC.
A jury found that motel owner Sanjay Patel "failed to exercise ordinary care in inspecting and maintaining" the room to ensure it was "in a reasonably safe condition for the use of their guests," per the News Sentinel. The judgment includes almost $1.3 million for medical expenses, $16,000 for funeral expenses, $250,000 for pain and suffering, and $500,000 in punitive damages. (More lawsuit stories.)
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