Lawsuit: Former Crete woman’s fatal fall due to negligence
July 25, 2012 6:08PM
Megan Duskey
Updated: August 27, 2012 11:19AM
The parents of a former Crete woman who fell to her death at a “Haunted Hotel Ball” at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago in 2010 are suing the hotel and the event hosts.
James and Deborah Duskey claim in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court that the death of their daughter Megan at the Halloween-themed ball was due to the negligence of the hotel and the event companies who hosted the party.
The 10-count lawsuit, which seeks more than $500,000 in compensation for Duskey’s wrongful death, names Hilton Worldwide, the Palmer House Hilton, Surreal Chicago and Adrenaline Y2K as the party hosts.
Megan Duskey fell four floors to her death after she tried to slide down a railing at the Palmer House Hilton, at 17 E. Monroe St., on Oct. 30, 2010.
The lawsuit claims the hotel and event hosts allowed people at the ball to “consume unlimited amounts of alcoholic beverages” after they paid for a ticket and failed to provide security to protect the patrons of the ball.
Duskey, 23, was an elementary school teacher at Orville T. Bright Elementary School on the far South Side. She was dressed as a comic book superhero, Silver Spectre, when she died, authorities said at the time.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office said Duskey was dead at the scene, and they ruled her death an accident.
Brian Pfeiffer, CEO of Surreal Chicago, declined to comment on the lawsuit because Duskey’s death occurred in the lobby of the hotel and did not happen while she was at the party.
Efforts to reach Hilton Worldwide and Adrenaline Y2K were unsuccessful Tuesday night.
A graduate of Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Duskey graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2009 with a degree in early childhood education and early childhood special education, according to a statement released by Duskey’s family at the time of her death.
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