The Atlanta area has recently seen several hotels either lose lawsuits (one for $40 million) or make $1 million+ settlements for allowing or failing to notice minors sex-trafficked on their premises. Now, in a record settlement, the owners of a Super 8 close to the airport have to pay a woman $164 million, $44 million in compensatory damages, plus $1 million per day (for the 120 days she stayed there) in punitive damages. The case was brought in federal court under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). She was 15 at the time she was trafficked there in 2020 and testified that she was forced to entertain as many as 15 clients a day. While her experience must have been awful and some motel staff seem to have been complicit, we all pay the price for such extravagant awards in higher insurance rates and the resulting higher operating costs of lodging providers, passed on in higher room rates. Corporate owners of cheap motels in ratty parts of town may just close them or sell them off rather than assume the liability risk for what may transpire on their premises.
Atlanta Super 8 Has to Pay $164 Million for Allowing Sex Traffic
