A young woman who was fed drugs, beaten and sex trafficked in a metro Atlanta hotel as a 16-year-old has won a $40 million verdict after five years of litigation and a federal trial, during which a jury found the hotel liable for and a participant in the sex crime activity on its premises.
United Inn & Suites in Decatur, Georgia, owned by Northbrook Industries, Inc., is the first hotel in Georgia to be found civilly liable by a jury under a federal law protecting victims against those who benefit financially from participating in a venture with sex traffickers.
Her lawyers believe the verdict is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and will put hotels and their insurers on notice to respect the law or face serious legal and financial consequences.
In 2018, “J.G.,” as the plaintiff is identified in the lawsuit, had run away from a group foster home and found herself in the clutches of a series of abusive men who rented multiple rooms at the seedy, crime-ridden United Inn, where they were selling drugs and sex with vulnerable girls.
For about 40 days in late 2018 and early 2019, the 16-year-old was forced to have sex with hundreds of men, sometimes a dozen men in one day, in either the hotel’s rooms or in the sex buyers’ cars in the hotel parking lot, according to her testimony.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in December 2020, and obtained by Atlanta Black Star, argued that the sex trafficking operation was conducted “openly and brazenly” on the hotel’s premises and common areas, with the men in charge carrying guns and hovering outside while multiple male buyers streamed in and out of the rooms where J.G. and other minor girls were trafficked.
The complaint also asserted that many of the hotel’s staff were aware or should have been aware of the sex trafficking activity. Housekeepers would often come in to clean the rooms where J.G. and other girls were present, and condoms, drugs, and weapons were left out in the open. Hotel staff would be asked to replenish an unusually large number of towels, sheets and tissues.
J.G. exhibited numerous well-known and visible signs of minor sex trafficking, the lawsuit said, including her age and inappropriate appearance (she was often scantily and provocatively clad, despite the cold weather), physical deterioration, poor hygiene, fatigue, sleep deprivation, injuries, failure to make eye contact with others, loitering, and promiscuous solicitation of male patrons in view of the hotel’s lobby.
On some days J.G. or her traffickers would buy condoms from staff at the front counter of the hotel, she testified.
At least one employee of United Inn was paid to participate in the trafficking enterprise, the lawsuit argued. A front desk employee who J.G. identified as 30-something “skinny Black woman” bought drugs from one of the plaintiff’s sex traffickers.
She and other hotel staff allegedly were paid to act as “lookouts” for her traffickers and alerted them of police activity at the hotel, as well as about guest complaints and high visitor traffic to certain rooms drawing unwanted attention.
Northbrook also received specific notice that J.G. was being trafficked at their hotel.
A Rockdale County sheriff’s investigator, Tim Wade, sent multiple emails to the United Inn advising that J.G. was a missing person believed to be at the hotel and attaching a “Be on the Lookout” (BOLO) notice containing her name, photo, age, race, height and weight.
Tahir Shareef, United Inn’s owner and general manager, acknowledged that the hotel received Wade’s emails, the lawsuit said.
During the trial in a federal courthouse in Atlanta that ended on Monday, Shareef testified that he couldn’t stop crime from occurring on his property, but said he always cooperates with law enforcement when problems arise, AJC.com reported.
“I’m not hiding anything,” Shareef testified. “I never, ever allow to have this kind of crime at my business place. We always, always try to stop it.”
Hotel staff do not know what happens in rooms behind closed doors, Shareef said.
The lawsuit contended that Northbrook Industries participated in the criminal venture by receiving revenue from room rentals where J.G. and other minors were trafficked and providing “the crime scene” while it knowingly “turned a blind eye” to the sex trafficking and other criminal activity at the hotel.
Northbrook knew or should have known of sex trafficking and other sex crimes at the hotel, which was “rife with crime,” before and during the plaintiff’s stay there, the complaint asserts. That criminal activity included multiple arrests for rape, prostitution, pimping and sex trafficking in the several preceding years.
Just a year before J.G. was trafficked, at least three other people trafficked underage girls for sex at the United Inn, testified DeKalb County Police detective C.D. King. And he said in 2017 the county’s vice squad conducted a joint operation with the FBI related to child and adult prostitution at the hotel.
The hotel had only one security guard, who worked from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., witnesses testified.
Shareef admitted that he did not improve hotel security, bolster staff or amend policy after learning of the arrests made in connection with commercial sex at the United Inn, the AJC reported.
By failing to take reasonable and necessary actions “in response to widespread sex crimes at the United Inn generally, and in response to the plaintiff’s sex trafficking specifically, Northbrook’s employees and management ignored, allowed, condoned, assisted and facilitated Plaintiff’s minor sex trafficking,” the lawsuit said.
Northbrook should have been aware of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (since reauthorized multiple times), which is aimed at preventing, suppressing and punishing human trafficking, and specifies that businesses and other third parties who knowingly benefit from sex trafficking can be held liable, the complaint claimed.
The hotel’s operators and owners also should have been aware that in 2013, the Georgia Legislature passed a law requiring hotels to post notices with contact information for state and national human trafficking hotlines in restrooms and other conspicuous places in clear view of the public and employees, the lawsuit said, further alleging that United Inn did not do so.
Northbrook Industries knew or should have known that sex trafficking is rampant in metro Atlanta and particularly pervasive in DeKalb County, where the United Inn is located. A year before the plaintiff was trafficked as a minor in DeKalb County, Dekalb County police rescued more sex trafficking victims than any other unit in Georgia, the complaint said.
In emotional testimony, J.G. recalled the trauma she endured — from physical abuse by her traffickers to the long-term psychological toll that still follows her.
“She described being triggered, having nightmares, flashbacks, difficulty trusting people, and how it impacts her relationships, education, and health,” Emma Hetherington, director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic at the University of Georgia, who attended the trial, told 11Alive. “Even though it may have only been 40 days of trafficking, she will endure a lifetime of trauma.”
The lawsuit said the plaintiff suffered substantial physical, emotional and psychological harm as well as economic damages “as a result of Northbrook’s participation in this sex trafficking venture,” and sought actual, compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $100 million.
After deliberating for four hours, a jury of three men and four women on last Friday awarded the plaintiff $10 million in compensation and $30 million in punitive damages.
Pat McDonough, an attorney for the J.G., who is now 23, and has a 7-year-old daughter, told FOX 5, “It is a victory for our client, and I’m really happy for her, and it’s going to change her life. And really, there’s nobody I know more deserving than someone who’s been through this,” he said.
J.G. was “beaming with pride” after the verdict, knowing her case will set a precedent in a positive way for other sex trafficking survivors, David Bouchard, another lead attorney for the plaintiff, told AJC.com. While the trial was an emotional rollercoaster for her, “By the end, she was extraordinarily pleased, grateful, excited and relieved,” he said on Monday.
“This is more than a legal victory, it’s a statement,” McDonough said. “This verdict puts the entire hotel industry on notice. Businesses that ignore trafficking will be held accountable.”
The statement that the large punitive damages award make to the hospitality industry is, he said, “if you’re going to run one of these hotels, you need to do your due diligence. There’s a lot of great people that run great hotels and who do the right thing… It’s just there’s certain places out there that decide they’re going to put profits over people and in this case, over children.”
“You’ve got to train your staff that you don’t sell condoms to 16-year-olds when they come up to the front desk,” McDonough said. “You need to verify, does this look right, that there’s kids in this room by themselves and 20 men have gone in and out every 30 minutes?”
Dana Richens, the hotel’s lead trial attorney, told the AJC that she is evaluating its post-trial options, including appeals.
She said the hotel had nothing to do with the plaintiff’s sex trafficking, adding that the kind of “clandestine” activity involved in trafficking is the fault of “vile criminals” and the “deplorable” websites they use to advertise girls and women for sex.
“There is simply no evidence that United Inn was in cahoots with (the plaintiff’s) traffickers,” she said.
Great Job Jill Jordan Sieder & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
