PHILADELPHIA - Victims of sex-trafficking at Philadelphia hotels have won $17.5 million in settlements after filing suit in 2022.
The firm Kline & Specter announced the agreements on Monday after representing women in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas against the owners of a Motel 6, Days Inn and North American Motor Inn on Roosevelt Boulevard.
The hotels failed to ensure sex-trafficking wasn't occurring on their premises, the lawsuit alleged.
"Instead of hiring qualified security and adoption and enforcement policies against criminal activity to the detriment of our clients," said Emily Marks, who represented the women with Nadeem Bezar and Alex Van Dyke.
Among the defendants were Eighty-Eight L.P. and Eight, Inc., which owned the Motel 6; G6 Hospitality and related companies, which entered a franchise agreement with Eighty-Eight to operate the Motel 6; Ramara Inc., which owned the NAMI; and City Line Corp., which leased NAMI from Ramara.
The case settled ahead of a March 24 trial. Marks and her co-counsel planned to show the only monitor to watch footage from more than 30 surveillance cameras at the Motel 6 was in the owner's office, which was locked when he wasn't there.
At the Days Inn, the hotel had known since a security guard was arrested in October 2013 that human trafficking was happening there, the firm says. The security company hired in the aftermath did little to nothing to stop trafficking, it adds.
One plaintiff was forced into prostitution at the Motel 6 and NAMI in August 2015. Security overlooked signs of trafficking like an excess of condoms in rooms, individuals carrying large amounts of cash, the renting of two rooms next to each other, refusal of housekeeping services, significant foot traffic, guests checking in with no luggage, the complaint says.
"It's disturbing, I mean really disturbing that these children are being abused, raped and trafficked at local hotels," Bezar said. "Even more upsetting is that these economy or budget hotels continue to fail to properly secure their properties and protect people, especially children, from being assaulted."