| Guests trust their safety and well-being to hotels. Inns must be up to the task. Falling short leads nowhere good.
A plaintiff’s 18-year-old son was stabbed to death by a party-goer in a room at a New York Howard Johnson hotel. The killer pled guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. The plaintiff sued the hotel for negligence. The facility denied liability and sought dismissal of the case. The court not only refused to dismiss the case but, in a rare move, ruled without a trial that the hotel was liable for the death.
The case is both unfortunate and a reminder of what not to do. The plaintiff presented documentary evidence establishing at the hotel an "extensive history of criminal activity," including a gunpoint
robbery, assault with a weapon, attempted burglary by a masked intruder, large rowdy parties in hotel rooms, numerous thefts, prostitution and drug sales. These incidents should sound alarms to any responsible hotel manager that stricter policies and beefed-up enforcement are indicated big time.
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