Family of girl killed sliding down banister sues Palmer House, event hosts
--Sun-Times Media Wire and Sun-Times July 25, 2012 10:30AM
Megan Duskey fell four floors to her death after she tried to slide down a railing on the Palmer House Hilton, at 17 E. Monroe St., on October 30, 2010.
Updated: July 25, 2012 1:06PM
The parents of a woman who died at the “Haunted Hotel Ball” at the Palmer House Hilton in 2010 are suing the hotel and the event hosts.
James and Deborah Duskey claim 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 in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.
The suit names Hilton Worldwide, the Palmer House Hilton, Surreal Chicago and Adrenaline Y2K as the hosts of the party.
Megan Duskey fell four floors to her death after she tried to slide down a railing on the Palmer House Hilton, at 17 E. Monroe St., on October 30, 2010.
The suit 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 comic book superhero the 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.
The ten-count suit seeks more than $500,000 in compensation for Duskey’s wrongful death.
Brian Pfeiffer, CEO of Surreal Chicago, one of the event hosts, declined to comment on the suit 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.
