MEDIA – A pair of local women have launched litigation against a day spa in Media, alleging they were sexually assaulted by one of its massage therapists and that the spa facility failed to prevent or address the incidents.
C.D. of Media and J.A. of Wilmington, Del. separately filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on March 2 versus Serenity Wellness, LLC (doing business as “Serenity Counseling and Wellness Center”), of Media.
“John Hanrahan was working with Serenity Wellness, LLC as a massage therapist at Serenity Counseling and Wellness Center. Throughout the year 2019, Hanrahan sexually assaulted multiple female customers while under the guise of performing massage therapy on them at Serenity Counseling and Wellness Center,” the suit states.
“The sexual assaults committed by Hanrahan upon female customers at Serenity included, but are not limited to, touching and fondling their bare breasts, touching their vaginal/genital area, squeezing and/or fondling their bare buttocks and/or placing his erect penis on the bodies of female customers. All of the aforementioned acts were done without the consent of said female customers.”
The suit adds that Serenity Counseling and Wellness Center either knew or should have been aware that Hanrahan had been previously employed by Massage Envy in West Chester, and had been fired in September 2013, for sexually assaulting a female customer during a massage session.
Plaintiff C.D. claims that on Aug. 16, 2019, she came to the day spa for a scheduled one-hour massage session, but was instead sexually assaulted by Hanrahan for two hours.
She reported the sexual assault to the Media Police Department on Aug. 20, 2019 and Hanrahan was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of indecent assault without consent of another.
It is believed that the defendant chose not to conduct any investigation into Hanrahan’s background prior to hiring him, which would have uncovered the prior sexual assault in 2013 – and further chose not to conduct any investigation into the assault committed against C.D. on Aug. 16, 2019, nor to suspend or terminate Hanrahan’s employment.
Hanrahan went on to assault other women, such as another plaintiff, J.A., on Oct. 2, 2019, thereby “aggravating and compounding the injuries and damages already caused to plaintiff C.D. as a result of being sexually assaulted by Hanrahan, as she now feels a tremendous amount of mental anguish, grief and guilt, as a result of the women who were assaulted after she reported her assault to Media Police.”
J.A. immediately reported her own assault to the Media Police Department right after it happened, on Oct. 2, 2019.
For counts of vicarious liability, negligence, negligent performance of undertaking to render services, negligence per se, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligent misrepresentation, recklessness, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of the arbitration limits, together with punitive damages, interest, damages for pre-judgment and post-judgment delay, and a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Stanley E. Luongo Jr. and Thomas B. Bellwoar of Luongo Bellwoar, in West Chester.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas cases CV-2021-002105 & CV-2021-002109
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com