Toddler's Tragic Death Leads To Lawsuit Against Los Angeles Hotel Owners

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Las Vegas parents of a 3-year-old girl who suffered a tragic and fatal fall during the family's Anaheim, Disneyland trip in 2015 are suing the hotel's owners and property managers according to court documents.

While staying at the Embassy Suites on the 3100 block of E. Frontera Street, 3-year-old Stephanie Martinez fell from a fifth-story walkway in an interior courtyard according to police.

Anaheim officials said that on July 18, 2015 at approximately 6:30 p.m., the girl either squeezed through the bars of the railing at the hotel or climbed over.

News reports from the time state that the girl's family stayed at the hotel during a trip to Disneyland and that the child fell while her mother was showering.

The girl was pronounced dead less than an hour after the accident at UCI Medical Center in Orange, according to the Orange County coroner's office. The cause of death was blunt force injuries to her head, according to a copy of her death certificate attached to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court negligence suit filed Monday are the girl's parents, Jesus Martinez Avila and Alejandra Sandoval Duran. Named as defendants are the hotel's owners, Urban Commons Frontera LLC and UCF 1 LLC, based in Los Angeles and Corona del Mar, respectively, and the property managers, Diamond Bar-based Brighton Management LLC.

The suit alleges a "dangerous, defective and unsafe" condition existed at the hotel that contributed to the child's death. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Representatives for the defendants could not be immediately reached.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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