News: British woman awarded $27k after injury at Emirates Palace hotel Abu Dhabi

A British woman who sustained injuries when a wooden shelf fell on her head at the luxury Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi has been awarded AED100,000 ($27,225) in compensation by a court.

However, the hotel, as well as a company charged with its management and a local insurance company, had the total amount they were ordered to pay cut by 50 percent at a hearing this week before the Abu Dhabi Civil Appeals Court.

Natalie Creane, a Dubai resident originally from Essex, had originally sued the luxury hotel for AED70 million/almost $20 million after claiming the incident, which occurred in July 2008, had left her with severe brain damage and resulted in epileptic seizures and fainting. She was also seeking damages after it was claimed that, while she was placing her shoes in a wardrobe in her room, a wooden shelf weighing 2.2 Kilogrammes fell on her head.

She subsequently did not go to work for eight months and was terminated from her employment as a result of her absence.

The claimant had accused the hotel of causing the accident due to negligence in fixing the shelf. However, an engineering committee said the shelf would not have fallen on its own, and that there must have been a cause.

The appeals court ruled that she had “exaggerated” the impact of the injury, pointing out she had married and got another job since it happened.