As reported by several media sources, including Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, a woman has hired attorney Gloria Allred to represent her in a personal injury lawsuit against a hotel that gave a man she didn’t know a key to her room, that he then used to unlawfully gain entrance and assault her.
A.F. had traveled from New York to Helsinki, Finland, in her first trip abroad as an investment banker. During her stay at Hotel Kamp, on January 15, 2011, she allegedly woke to find “someone climbing into her bed groping at her.”
When A.F. fled her hotel room, and arrived at the front desk screaming for help, she was told that the man in her room “was her husband.”
Allegedly the hotel’s front desk clerk gave her room key to a man, who was visibly drunk, because he believed that he was A.F.’s husband and he had been locked out of their shared room. The suit claims that no attempt at verifying the man’s identification was made before handing over the room key.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and names the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. as responsible.
Allred stated that the man, another American that was staying at the same hotel, had made overtures to her client but she had rebuffed him. A.F., through Allred, said that she filed the suit because she wanted to “warn other women who may be traveling alone of the danger that they may face. The one place that they may feel safe (their hotel room) may in fact be the most dangerous place of all if their hotel fails to act responsibly to protect their guests.”
Since the attack A.F. has moved from New York to Florida, and no longer works as an investment banker. Allred said that her client’s life simply “unraveled” following the incident. Court documents read, “She was unable to return to work as a banker, feeling unsafe in the most ordinary circumstances.”
A.F. was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. In her career, as the vice president of an investment banking firm in New York City, she had earnings in the high-six-figure range. She now lives in Florida so that she can be closer to her family.
A.F.’s statement explained, “Business travel is often a critical part of a successful career, and women should not have to fear traveling or wonder if they will be targets of violence when they are staying alone in a hotel.”
Starwood Hotels has claimed in their own statement that it is hotel policy to ensure proper identification is made, and verified, before issuing room keys. Their statement read, “We are taking this allegation seriously and are working with the hotel in question to understand the facts and any breach of security that may have contributed” to the incident in question.
Unspecified damages for gross negligence, economic loss, physical and emotional distress and pain and suffering are sought in the suit.
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