Stockbridge hotel pays $5M to end sex trafficking lawsuit
The owner of a Stockbridge hotel will pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it helped facilitate the sex trafficking of two 14-year-old girls, their lawyers say, as attention grows on such cases in Georgia.
Georgia company MASP LLC is the second hotel owner in the state to pay millions of dollars to settle federal sex trafficking claims after a historic $40 million verdict was reached in July by Atlanta jurors in the first such case to be tried.
The verdict, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, caught the attention of lawyers, hotels and insurers nationwide. Attorneys involved in federal sex trafficking claims against hotels say the litigation in Georgia is influencing cases elsewhere.
MASP owns and operates the Days Inn & Suites by Wyndham on Hannover Parkway North in Stockbridge, about 13 miles southeast of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Its lawyers did not immediately respond to questions about the settlement.
Two Georgia women sued the company in September 2023, alleging its hotel staff helped a trafficker sell them for sex over several days at the property in 2013, when they were 14.
“What I went through can’t be taken away,” one of the women told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “Money is not something that can fix my trauma. The only thing that it can do is help with the healing process. And I’m grateful to be able to heal the way that I need to.”
The woman, referred to in the case by her initials, A.J., said she hopes her case encourages other trafficking victims to come forward.
MASP denied the allegations, saying in court filings it had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the girls being trafficked in one of the hotel rooms.
The plaintiffs claimed a front desk worker at the hotel acted as a lookout for their trafficker and that hotel cleaners turned a blind eye to obvious signs of sex trafficking in their room. The girls were rescued from the hotel by police, and their trafficker was prosecuted, court records show.
The settlement was reached Sept. 19 during a court-ordered mediation. Lawyers for the women announced the $5 million agreement Tuesday.
“These young women were children when they were trafficked, and they have lived that trauma for more than a decade,” said Pat McDonough, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers. “They wanted this settlement to be a public one so the hotel industry cannot pretend it does not know what happens within its four walls. That bravery is what drives change.”
McDonough is involved in dozens of sex trafficking lawsuits against Georgia hotels, including the case that jurors decided in July. He said the $40 million verdict in that case — against United Inn & Suites on Memorial Drive — sent a message to all hotel owners that their common defenses, including ignorance, won’t save them at trial.
The verdict prompted a $6 million settlement several days later in a case against the Americas Best Value Inn Tucker on the eve of trial. It also influenced the latest settlement with MASP and will be a factor in litigating other cases, McDonough said.
“We want the message to get out there that if a hotel is going to profit off of children, they’re going to be held accountable,” he told the AJC. “They’re faced with the reality now that if there is a really solid case against the hotel, then it would be wise for them to resolve the case before it goes to trial.”
The case against MASP was about to be scheduled for trial when it settled, McDonough said. He said the hotels being sued under a federal anti-trafficking law are those that routinely rent rooms to criminals to maximize profits and ignore blatant signs of criminal activity.
“By standing up and demanding accountability, these survivors are forcing the industry to confront its role in providing the crime scene for trafficking,” he said.
About the Author
Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
