$1.2 Million Settlement for Injuries at the Trump Taj Mahal

The Trump Taj Mahal, one of Donald Trump’s three Atlantic City casino resorts, reached a $1.2 million settlement with an elderly woman injured after her hotel room toilet broke away from the wall while she was sitting on it.

The settlement was in regard to Taj Mahal’s liability for the injuries Jean Ciocci, 74, of Philadelphia, sustained from two separate falls: the fall from her toilet in her hotel room’s handicap-accessible bathroom on Oct. 8, 2004, and a fall she took 1.5 years later that attorney Daniel J. Mann argued came about because of the significant physical disability in her left arm caused by the earlier bathroom fall.

The settlement was reached in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Trump Taj Mahal Associates stipulated liability in failing to properly mount the toilet in Ciocci’s hotel room, but the resort contended “vehemently” in its defendants’ settlement conference memorandum that it was not liable for the second accident.

During the bathroom fall, Ciocci’s body hit the handicap grab bar and she landed on her left hand, knee, and shoulder. Ciocci’s arm injury resulted in pain, numbness, tingling in her left hand, moderate to severe left carpal tunnel syndrome, and mild axonal neuropathy. Treatment included physical therapy, cortisone injections, and an open carpal tunnel release. Ciocci continued to experience pain, discomfort, and “significant weakness” in her left arm and hand.