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The family of an 87-year-old woman who died hours after she was struck by some automatic hotel doors filed a $2.7 million lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday, April 28, 2017. (File photo)
The family of an 87-year-old woman who died last year after she was hit by the automatic front doors of a Ramada hotel in Southeast Portland has filed a $2.7 million lawsuit against the hotel.
The doors suddenly started sliding and struck June Sylvia Cole, causing her to fall and hit her head on the concrete ground, according to the suit filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Cole was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and died hours later, shortly after midnight on Aug. 7, according to the suit.
The hotel didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
The hotel is at Southeast 97th Avenue and Stark Street, and owned or operated by R and W Investments LLC, according to the suit. The company is listed as the sole defendant.
The suit states that Cole, who was a hotel guest from Georgia, was waiting for her daughter to get their car and pick her up in front of the hotel. The suit faults the hotel for what it describes as defective doors, for allegedly failing to provide guests a waiting area clear of the moving doors and for allegedly failing “to assist Mrs. Cole in navigating the doors given her age and infirmity.”
The suit claims that the incident was "foreseeable" and states that thousands of guests "pass through those doors annually -- a number of whom are aged and without clear sight, balance, or knowledge of automatic doors."
The suit seeks $23,000 for medical and funeral costs; $250,000 for "a brief period of fear and hopelessness" from the time Cole was struck by the doors to the time her head hit the ground; and $2.5 million for her family's loss of companionship, society and services, according to the suit.
Cole's daughter, Patricia Hale, is the personal representative of the estate. Hale, her brother and a granddaughter are listed as Cole's heirs.
Troutdale attorney David Shannon is representing the estate. Read
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-- Aimee Green