The parents of a woman who died after falling out a 10th floor hotel window have filed separate lawsuits that claim the W Atlanta-Midtown knew the glass was defective and improperly installed.
LaShawna Marleece Threatt's father, Maurice Threatt , filed a suit Friday in Fulton State Court on behalf of his daughter's estate. Sharon Traylor, the dead woman's mother, also filed a complaint in Fulton State Court the same day on behalf of her granddaughter, LaShawna Threatt's 15-year-old daughter.
Maurice Threatt's complaint said the glass in a window in room 1012, where LaShawna Threatt and her friends had gathered May 28 to celebrate her 30th birthday, had recently been replaced and it was "not properly tempered for use as an outside wall window."
Both suits asked for unspecified damages to be determined by a jury.
Witnesses said LaShawna Threatt and a friend, Cierra Williams, were horseplaying near the window when the glass shattered and the two fell out. Both first landed onto a slanted sunroof adjoining the hotel. LaShawna Threatt stayed on the sunroof but Williams rolled off and onto the ground. Williams was critically injured but she is healing.
The hotel manager declined to comment in detail on the suit but in a statement, Michael O'Donohue said, "The safety and security of our guests are always of paramount importance to us. We are taking this situation very seriously."
O'Donohue also said in the statement consultants had performed a "comprehensive structural review" of the building when it became part of the W chain in 2008.
"At no time during these inspections did the W Atlanta Midtown receive any reports noting concern about the safety or security of its windows or window system structure," O'Donohue said.
O'Donohue said Room 1012 has a metal frame window system with six panes of glass separated by two floor-to-ceiling vertical metal support frames. He said a full length horizontal metal support frame is about three feet off the floor.
"During this incident, a single glass pane was partially broken," O'Donohue said. "This pane was located below the horizontal metal support frame in the lower right-hand corner of the window system. No other glass panes or frames were cracked or damaged and the entire window system remains completely intact and firmly affixed to the interior room wall and the concrete exterior building wall."
About the Author
