Personal Injury · Verdict Data
What Dominican Courts Actually Award Against Resorts: 2024–2026 Verdict Data
There is almost no public, sourced data on what Dominican courts award foreign visitors injured at resorts. This is that data — read directly from the operative part of published decisions, with the court, the date, and the decision number for each. Hotel names are omitted; the citations are public.
How much do Dominican courts award in resort injury cases?
Across the decisions analyzed for 2024–2026, Dominican awards to injured guests centered roughly between RD$200,000 and RD$1,000,000, with a high tail reaching RD$5,000,000 and, in US dollars, up to US$200,000. The highest final figure came from a zipline excursion case upheld by the Supreme Court at a total of US$107,783.99. How high any individual case reaches depends far more on the severity of the injury and the strength of the proof than on any average.
How was this verdict data compiled?
This is an analysis of 75 first-instance and appellate decisions from Dominican courts (2024–2026) involving a safety obligation or accommodation contract and a hotel or resort, identified within a larger corpus of nearly 99,000 published decisions. It is a sample of the decisions reviewed, not a claim of national completeness.
One methodological point matters: every figure below is read from the operative part (the dispositivo) of the published ruling — the section that states what the court actually ordered — rather than from summary or index fields, which can reflect what a plaintiff asked for rather than what was awarded. That distinction is why some widely repeated figures for Dominican cases are simply wrong.
What have Dominican courts awarded? (2024–2026 verdicts)
Each row below is a separate published decision. Awards are shown exactly as the court ordered them; "moral" refers to moral damages (pain and the human impact of the injury) and "material" to quantified economic loss.
| Court | Date | Award (from the decision) | Decision № |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Chamber, La Altagracia | Oct 31, 2024 | US$200,000 (moral) + RD$24,413.67 + CLP$3,062,149 (material) + 1%/mo interest | 1860-2024-SSEN-00719 |
| Court of Appeal, San Pedro de Macorís | Jul 29, 2025 | RD$5,000,000 (moral) + material damages to be assessed | 335-2025-SSEN-00302 |
| 1st Chamber, La Altagracia | Mar 11, 2026 | RD$2,000,000 + 1%/mo interest | 186-2026-SSEN-00261 |
| 1st Chamber, La Altagracia | Feb 11, 2026 | RD$500,000 | 186-2026-SSEN-00099 |
| 2nd Chamber, La Altagracia | Feb 9, 2024 | US$20,000 (moral) + US$1,755 (material) | 1860-2024-SSEN-00111 |
| Court of Appeal, San Pedro de Macorís | Oct 7, 2025 | RD$229,168 — reduced from RD$429,168 on appeal | 335-2025-SSEN-00443 |
| 2nd Chamber, La Altagracia | Nov 11, 2024 | RD$100,000 (moral) | 1860-2024-SSEN-00738 |
| 2nd Chamber, La Altagracia | Oct 31, 2024 | US$3,740.26 (material) + RD$20,000 (moral) | 1860-2024-SSEN-00722 |
| 2nd Chamber, La Altagracia | Jul 23, 2024 | US$1,247.22 (material) + US$1,000 (moral) | 1860-2024-SSEN-00461 |
Separately, an excursion (zipline) injury to a US visitor was awarded a total of US$107,783.99 and upheld by the Supreme Court in November 2025 — first instance 1860-2023-SSEN-00372, confirmed at 335-2023-SSEN-00584, cassation rejected at SCJ-PS-25-2535 — making it final and irrevocable, with the signed liability waiver struck down as contrary to public order.
What is the US-dollar picture?
Dominican courts award foreign claimants in US dollars. The chart below shows the US-dollar awards among the verified decisions, to scale — a reminder that most awards are modest while a few sit far out on the high tail.
What patterns emerge from the awards?
- A central range and a high tail. Most awards fell roughly between RD$200,000 and RD$1,000,000, but serious injury reached RD$5,000,000 and US$200,000 — severity, not geography, drives the number.
- Interest adds up. Of the 75 decisions, 19 carried compensatory interest — typically about 1% per month — running until payment, which materially increases the final sum over time.
- Appeals can moderate awards. In one case an award was reduced from RD$429,168 to RD$229,168 on appeal, a reminder that a first-instance number is not the last word.
- Dollars for foreign claimants. Thirteen awards were expressed in US dollars, and a majority of the cases showed signs of a foreign claimant.
- Courts also reject. The same records include express dismissals — case selection is real.
Do Dominican courts ever reject resort injury claims?
Yes — weak cases fail, and honestly acknowledging that is part of reading this data correctly. In one 2024 La Altagracia matter the claim was dismissed outright and costs were taxed against the plaintiff. The lesson is not that claims are hopeless; it is that the strong ones are built on documented severity and evidence, which is exactly what an honest case assessment is meant to test. For how these claims work under Dominican law, see the personal injury guide; the record zipline award is discussed on the excursion & watersports injuries page.
Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by using this site or its assessment tool. Figures are read from published decisions; additional decisions are catalogued and may be added as their citations are confirmed.