Days Inn Motel in Georgia Pays Survivors for Human Trafficking.
A Days Inn motel in Stockbridge, Georgia has agreed to pay two survivors $5 million after settling a federal human trafficking lawsuit.
Two women, identified as A.J. and Q.C. in the lawsuit, stated that they were just 14 years old when they were trafficked in March 2013. They maintained that Days Inn employees feigned ignorance in the face of obvious signs of abuse. The young girls were confined to a room in the motel for numerous days as they were sold for sex to over 15 different “buyers.”
According to A.J. and Q.C., their abuser was known to have trafficked other girls multiple times at the Stockbridge Days Inn location. Still, they claim, staff did not intervene even as room conditions aligned with common trafficking characteristics: “used condoms, multiple large boxes of condoms, several mobile phones, and digital timers” were found in the motel room. A.J. and Q.C. state that they were under surveillance and that employees would alert the trafficker if they attempted to seek help or escape.
The survivors state that MASP LLC, the company that owns and operates the Days Inn location, knew of the negligence of their employees. The girls were not taken from their trafficker until law enforcement intervened with an arrest.
This case joins a rising number of lawsuits against hotel and motel operators in Georgia. Others include Red Roof Inn and United Inn & Suites. Attorney Pat McDonough acknowledges that the primary goal of such lawsuits is to hold establishments accountable: "The whole goal is to try to change the hospitality industry where it's not profitable for them to do that.”
One of the survivors hopes that making this settlement public will increase knowledge and empathy for experiences like hers: "I want to spread awareness, one to the survivors like myself. Two, to the people that are actually still ongoing in it. And three, to those who turned a blind eye," she said.
Authors: Alexis Kabat and Andy Goldwasser
