Man sues Chicago Hilton for $50,000 after tripping over luggage

It seems there's no end to the ridiculous things people will sue over these days. There was the alcoholic who drunkenly fell down the stairs and then sued the hotel for over-serving him, the guy who got electrocuted while trying to sneak onto an Amtrak train and then sued the company for parking the trains where it did, and many, many more.

Now a man is suing Chicago's Palmer House Hilton for $50,000 after he tripped over some unattended luggage in the hotel lobby. The complaint, posted on a Chicago legal website, alleges that "on or about October 7, 2007" the plaintiff, Richard J. Wood, "tripped, stumbled, and/or fell" over the luggage. (Well...which was it? Did he merely stumble, or was it a fall? And how does he not know which day it happened?)

The suit, in its convoluted legalese, alleges that the Hilton staff were careless and negligent in leaving the suitcase out where Wood could trip on it. Apparently, Wood bears no responsibility for not looking where he was going. There's no word on how the man was physically injured, but the suit claims he suffered "great pain, anguish and suffering, loss of a normal life". Was it $50,000 worth of anguish? Unless Hilton settles, it'll be up to the court to decide.

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