A state appeals panel will allow a woman and her husband to resume their lawsuit against the owners of a Skokie hotel where they say a security guard raped the woman.
Cook County Judge Kathy M. Flanagan had dismissed the complaint Karla and Dean Gress brought against owners of the Holiday Inn Chicago-Skokie. Named defendants in the matter include Mansoor Lakhani and Lakhani Hospitality, Inc., hotel operations director Sheila Gilani, Hostmark Hospitality Group, Inc., Intercontinental Hotels Group Operating Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Group Resources, Inc..
The decision left the alleged hotel guard, identified as Alhagie Singhateh, as the lone remaining defendant.
Justice Terrence Lavin
On April 25, 2017, the judge entered an $11.9 million default judgment against Singhateh. Cook County court records do not indicate Singhateh was represented by an attorney. Singhateh has not been criminally charged in connection with the alleged incident.
The Gresses appealed the judge's dismissal of the case against the hotel owners and the corporate parent companies to the Illinois First District Appellate Court, which issued its opinion May 2. Justice Terrence J. Lavin wrote the opinion; Justices Cynthia Y. Cobbs and James G. Fitzgerald Smith concurred.
The underlying incident was alleged to have taken place Oct. 2, 2013. Gress was staying at the hotel, where she ate dinner and had one alcoholic drink, according to the appellate decision. She alleged Singhateh, a guard who also did maintenance work at the hotel, placed a narcotic in her drink and, after being sent to her room to repair the air conditioner, found Gress unconscious and allegedly raped her. She said she discovered the assault the next morning, sought medical attention and submitted to a rape kit. The appellate decision indicates police then used DNA evidence to allegedly link Singhateh to the alleged sexual assault.
The Gresses alleged premises liability against the hotel owners, operators and franchisors, and alleged Singhateh committed assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and gender violence. They also accused the business defendants of negligence in training and supervising employees, as well as negligently hiring and retaining Singhateh by failing to discover his prior arrest for soliciting a prostitute.
Dean Gress’ complaint is a loss of consortium claim.
The panel upheld Flanagan’s decision to dismiss Intercontinental and Hostmark from the action, saying the parent brands had no ability to control LHI employee activities, and thus owed the Gresses no duty of care. However, the appellate justices reversed and remanded the remainder of the complaint for further proceedings.
The panel determined the Gresses adequately alleged LHI, Lakhani and Gilani failed to ensure guest safety and improperly gave Singhateh a key to Karla’s room and told him to fix her air conditioner “despite being informed that she was demonstrably intoxicated.” They also alleged the hotel had inadequate security personnel and cameras and failed to properly track room keys.
While property owners generally don’t owe a duty of protection against criminal actions of a third party, the panel said, there are exceptions, including the relationship between an innkeeper and guest. Further, a defendant must be aware of the potential for danger, as well as be in the best position to protect against such risk.
In arguing for dismissal, the hotel defendants said there had been “no previous crime of this exact nature,” and that Singhateh’s actions weren’t foreseeable, even if the company had known of the solicitation arrest, as solicitation differs from rape. Yet the panel detailed several other cases in which hotels were unable to skirt liability for crimes against guests. And the justices listed reasonable security measures that could have been taken to prevent an attack like the one the Gresses alleged, including a policy of sending both a male and female employee when fixing maintenance issues or having a stated procedure for caring for guests who appear intoxicated.
Ultimately, the panel determined the couple deserved to expand beyond the pleading stage and argue its case in front of a jury. It similarly said the couple adequately pleaded proximate cause that Singhateh “might commit an offense against this incapacitated woman once he gained private and protected access to her hotel room.”
The Gresses have been represented by attorneys Tara Devine and Elizabeth Olszewksi, from the firm of Salvi & Schostok P.C., of Chicago. On appeal, plaintiffs were represented by attorney Robert G. Black, of Naperville.
LHI and the corporate parent defendants have been represented by the firm of SmithAmundsen LLC, of Chicago.