Marriott Withdraws Premises Liability Defense
Marriott International has distanced itself from a defense adopted by one of its franchise hotels in a premises liability lawsuit involving a woman who was raped on hotel premises, after outrage from customers and women's groups.
The hotel, the Marriott Hotel and Spa in Stamford, Connecticut has withdrawn the defense its lawyers employed in the lawsuit. In 2006, the unidentified woman was raped at gun point in her mini van in the hotel parking lot. The rapist held the woman at gunpoint, and raped her in front of her two children, who were then 5 and 7 years old. He threatened the woman that he would assault her kids if she didn’t cooperate.
After that nightmarish experience, the woman filed a premises liability and negligent security lawsuit against the hotel. Earlier this month, lawyers for the hotel's insurance company filed papers alleging that the woman acted carelessly in failing to ensure her own safety and the safety of her kids. It's hard to understand what the woman could have done to protect herself or her kids here. The rapist – who has since been found guilty and is serving a 20-year term - had a gun, and threatened to rape her kids if she didn’t cooperate.
Outrageous premises liability defenses are not rare, and New Jersey premises injury lawyers come across these all the time. Because a victim has to prove that the property owner was negligent, premises owners have been known to pull out all stops to limit liability, by trying to proving that the victim caused the injury through his/her own negligence.
Marriott has deservedly had its name sullied with this defense. The hotel has lost not only its goodwill, reputation, and very likely, tons of business from horrified customers, but possibly, the lawsuit too.
