A woman has initiated a lawsuit in efforts towards fighting sex trafficking in hotels. She alleges that hotel chains have failed to stop sex trafficking at their properties despite ample knowledge that the issues might have occurred. Fighting sex trafficking in hotels has increasingly received more and more news coverage particularly as certain chains might be defendants multiple times.

This woman claims that she was the victim of sex trafficking from 2012 to 2013 at six major hotel chains in Washington and Oregon. She argues in her lawsuit that rather than fighting sex trafficking in hotels that the companies continue to enjoy the profit from rooms for rent that were clearly being used for the purpose of sex trafficking.

The lawsuit names Myriad International, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Red Lion Hotels Corp., and Extended Stay America as defendants.

The woman says that she was subjected to repeated instances of verbal abuse, rape, physical abuse, psychological torment, false imprisonment, and exploitation while trafficked for commercial sex purposes at the age of 22.

more:

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/human-trafficking/fighting-sex-trafficking-in-hotels-subject-of-latest-lawsuits/

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About 25 defense attorneys have appeared in federal court to represent dozens of hotels, including Marriott and Hilton, in lawsuits alleging they rented rooms to sex traffickers at locations nationwide.

So far, lawyers have filed 25 lawsuits in federal courts on behalf of anonymous victims against various hotel chains, asserting violations of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The suits, all filed this year, are a growing area for the plaintiffs’ bar.

In a Dec. 9 motion, three plaintiffs firms—Weitz & Luxenberg, Andrus Wagstaff and Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor—sought an order from the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferring all the sex trafficking cases to the Southern District of Ohio, where U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio has refused to dismiss some of the cases. They claim to represent about 1,500 sex trafficking victims.

“Today, sex slavery is pervasive in the United States, and hotels are the primary venue,” the firms’ lawyers wrote. “These corporations control every major aspect of the hotels that bear their name and those running these corporations have been fully aware of the sick and pervasive sex trafficking in their hotels.”

In the past week, defense attorneys, including those from DLA Piper and Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, have made appearances before the MDL panel, which is set to hear arguments Jan. 30 in Tampa, Florida. Their responses are due Thursday. One hotel, Ambach Corp., doing business as Marshfield Inn, has opposed the transfer motion in a Dec. 31 filing by its attorney, Thomas Farrey, managing director at Burns & Farrey in Worcester, Massachusetts.

more:

https://www.law.com/2019/12/31/hotels-lawyer-up-as-sex-trafficking-lawsuits-expected-to-increase/?slreturn=20200112185535

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10947817/shocking-moment-instagram-pranksters-pretend-to-spill-coronavirus-on-ny-subway-train-in-outrageously-bad-taste-stunt/