{"id":178426,"date":"2026-03-28T21:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T21:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178426\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T21:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T21:03:09","slug":"nyc-man-left-with-traumatic-brain-injury-on-luxe-trip-to-mexican-spa-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178426\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC man left with &#8216;traumatic brain injury&#8217; on luxe trip to Mexican spa: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A trip to paradise turned out to be a \u201cvacation from hell.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>A Manhattan man who went to relax in a hammock at a Mexican resort allegedly ended up with traumatic brain injury after he was struck by falling tree, according to a lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Stern and his wife, Tracy, had traveled to Rancho La Puerta \u2014 where rooms range from $5,000 to $8,000 \u2014 in May 2025 for what was supposed to be a luxurious stay.  <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38918932\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rancholapuerta-com-the-ranch-124535133.jpg\" alt=\"an exterior of the resort's grounds showing a tree and open fields\" class=\"wp-image-38918932\"  \/>The resort bills itself as a luxury wellness retreat. Rancho La Puerta<\/p>\n<p>The facility, which touts itself as wellness retreat, features 4,000 acres with 40 miles of trails to hike as well as a spa, fitness and yoga classes, and mindfulness activities.<\/p>\n<p>But after Stern, who lives in Midtown and works in private equity, was struck by the tree he ended up in a trauma center in San Diego, about an hour away.<\/p>\n<p>The falling tree left Stern with a \u201cbrain bleed, concussion, head lacerations requiring staples and multiple other injuries which may be permanent,\u201d he said in his Manhattan Federal Court negligence case. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt turned out to be the vacation from hell,\u201d Stern\u2019s lawyer, Carlos Carvajal, told The Post. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38918931\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rancholapuerta-com-the-ranch-124535149.jpg\" alt=\"rancho la puerto entrance\" class=\"wp-image-38918931\"  \/>The resort did not respond to a message seeking comment. Rancho La Puerta<\/p>\n<p>The resort was allegedly negligent and tricked customers to agree to bring any disputes under Mexican law \u2014 a provision presented only after the Sterns paid for their trip and were on the property, they claimed in court papers. <\/p>\n<p>Stern is seeking unspecified damages. The resort did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trip to paradise turned out to be a \u201cvacation from hell.\u201d A Manhattan man who went to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15853,2850,75,57,2106,9,56,63,65,64,21997,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-178426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-head-injuries","9":"tag-lawsuits","10":"tag-manhattan","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-mexico","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-resorts","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}