DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Marble steps concealed behind decorative drapes caused a tourist to fall and injure herself at a Dubai hotel, it has been claimed in a Californian court.

The victim claims she suffered chronic pain and has had to have several operations. However, a judge threw out the claim by Connie A Black, saying she would have to take her case to Bermuda, where the hotel’s parent company is based, or to Dubai itself.

The Federal District Court was told that on August 28, 2011, Black and her daughter had been enjoying a break at the Ritz-Carlton in Dubai Marina. En route to breakfast she was directed “through a drape-covered doorway”. Black claims the drape obscured her view and she fell down two marble steps.

She “severely injured herself”, requiring medical care in Dubai and California, she said in a written statement to court. The Ritz-Carlton Dubai gave her a free two-night stay and paid for a business-class upgrade for her and her daughter’s return flight to Los Angeles.

Black claims that the hotel then handed her a release and settlement claim form that would free the

Ritz-Carlton from liability. She refused to sign it and returned with her daughter to California, where she had to have “several orthopedic surgeries and follow-up appointments with doctors located in California”.

Black and her lawyer must now decide whether to sue in Bermuda or, possibly, in Dubai. A hotel spokesperson said: “We do not comment on pending litigation.”