Napoli Shkolnik Wins Case of Negligence Against Sixty Lower East Side, LLC, Sixty Hotels, LLC, and Sixty Hotel Manager, LLC

Plaintiff was Sexually Assaulted by Massage Therapist Provided by Luxury Hotel While Guest at 60 Lower East Side in 2018

Napoli Shkolnik has won a verdict of negligence against defendants Sixty Lower East Side, LLC; Sixty Hotels, LLC; and Sixty Hotel Manager, LLC, on behalf of the plaintiff, who filed the negligence action seeking damages for the physical and emotional injuries she suffered as a result of the assault by a massage therapist provided by Sixty LES hotel while she was a guest in 2018. The Plaintiff subsequently reported the assault to the police and the hotel.

During the plaintiff’s in-room massage appointment at the hotel, the alleged assailant was not registered or otherwise authorized to practice massage therapy in New York.

During the discovery phase of this lawsuit, it was determined the hotel did not conduct background checks on the massage therapists they used, allowing the independent contractor to provide massage services to the guest in her hotel suite without first informing her that his identity was unknown; that Sixty LES had not investigated his certifications or criminal history; falsely assured the guest that hotel spa services could be “safely provided in-room”; and provided him with unsupervised access to her suite to perform hotel spa services; without ensuring that reasonable and prudent policies and procedures were put into place for screening Sixty LES’s in-room massage therapists.

The defendants also informed plaintiff that they do not possess: any documents concerning the service provider’s “background, criminal history, or employment history”; any “contracts and agreements between him and any defendant”; any communications between defendants or any of their agents and him; any records reflecting in-room massage services provided by him.

The court will schedule the damages phase of the case in September 2023.