A man is suing West Hollywood’s upscale Mondrian hotel, alleging that one of his fingers was pierced by a hypodermic syringe while he was reaching for his cell phone in a couch in his room.
Amirmansour Solatikia filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging premises liability and negligence. His wife, Maryam Solatikia, also is a plaintiff and alleges loss of consortium. They are seeking unspecified damages.
A Mondrian representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday, Solatikia was sitting on a couch in his Mondrian hotel room on March 12, 2014, when he dropped his cell phone between one arm and a cushion.
“Mr. Solatikia slid his hand in the crevice between the cushion and the arm of the couch and immediately felt the piercing of his finger, causing excruciating pain instantly,” the suit says. “As he jerked his hand back, Mr. Solatikia was horrified to find a hypodermic syringe dangling from his index finger.”
Solatikia says he told the hotel staff what happened and was advised to get medical attention. The plaintiff went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was told he could have been exposed to such diseases as Hepatitis C or HIV, according to the complaint.
As preventive measures, doctors put Solatikia on anti-HIV medication that caused him nausea, dizziness and vomiting, and he was told to be screened for Hepatitis C for up to two years, according to the complaint.
Hotel management refused to release the syringe for testing, causing Solatikia severe anxiety and distress as he worried about potential diseases he might have contracted, the suit alleges.
Solatikia says he also experienced post-traumatic stress disorder worrying that he might have an infectious disease that he could spread to his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
Solatikia’s wife, fearing for her own safety, refused to have sex with her husband for a year, requested that he sleep in a separate room and asked that he “keep sufficient distance from their child, thereby further alienating the couple from one another and sowing discord in their relationship,” the suit says.
