You Are Not Alone in This Room Right Now
If you are reading this, someone you love may have been bought and sold inside a hotel room. Maybe it was a Red Roof Inn. Maybe it was a Days Inn, a Super 8, or a Motel 6. Maybe you are the person it happened to. Maybe you are the parent who got the phone call, or the sister who finally convinced your brother to talk, or the advocate who has watched a survivor walk through a door and sit down and finally say the words out loud.
We need to talk plainly about what just happened in federal court, what it means under the law, and what it takes to hold a hotel chain responsible for profiting from what was done to you or your family. This page is built for the moment you are in right now, not a press cycle.
A Florida woman filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on August 1, 2025, against Red Roof Inns, Inc. and four affiliated corporate entities, seeking compensation for harms she says she suffered as a sex trafficking victim in 2015 inside a hotel owned, operated, maintained, and controlled by the Red Roof corporate family. Her case, identified only as Jane Doe (A.M.C.), was assigned to a federal judge in the same district where Red Roof’s New Albany, Ohio headquarters sits. She is asking the federal system to recognize what she alleges: that the company took money from the trafficking, that the company knew or should have known, and that the company chose the room rate over her life.
We want you to understand what her case means, what the law actually says, what records exist that can prove or destroy it, and how much time you have.
Why a Lawsuit Against a Hotel Chain Is Harder Than It Sounds
If you have spent any time reading about sex trafficking lawsuits against hotels, you already know that the brand on the sign is rarely the only defendant, and rarely the easiest to reach. The defense has one central move it makes in every case, and we need to name it clearly before we talk about how to break through it.
The hotel will argue: “The person who hurt you was not our employee. He or she was an independent contractor, a guest, a third party. We did not commit the trafficking. We cannot be held responsible for the criminal acts of others.” This argument has real legal force, and in the franchisor context (where the brand owns the name but not the property) courts have sided with the brand.
The case that defines this fight is Doe #1 v. Red Roof Inns, Inc., 21 F.4th 714 (11th Cir. 2021). In that case, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of franchisor defendants, including Red Roof, holding that a hospitality franchisor does not become a participant in a trafficking venture merely by licensing its brand and collecting franchise fees. That ruling is the barrier the survivors and their lawyers have to climb over. It is also, candidly, the reason the new Florida lawsuit names multiple Red Roof entities rather than only the parent corporation. The structure of who owns what, who controls what, and who profits from what is the entire fight.
Here is what the Eleventh Circuit required survivors to plead, in plain English: (1) the franchisor knowingly benefited, (2) from taking part in a common undertaking or enterprise involving risk and potential profit, (3) that violated the TVPRA as to the plaintiff, and (4) with constructive or actual knowledge. Mere observation of trafficking, or receipt of routine franchise fees, is not enough. The survivor has to show the franchisor was woven into the operation itself.
That is why the Florida case targets Red Roof Inns, Inc. and the affiliated corporate entities that own, operate, maintain, and control the specific hotel. The pleading is engineered to put the franchisor-versus-operator distinction under pressure, and to argue that the corporate family acted as a single enterprise that profited from the trafficking.
The Pattern: How These Cases Are Actually Won
The Doe #1 v. Red Roof Inns ruling is the high-water mark of the defense. But the law is not static, and the survivors and their lawyers have been pushing back hard. The legal landscape in 2025 and 2026 looks very different from what it did in 2021.
The first significant federal jury verdict in a TVPRA hotel case came in July 2025 in the Northern District of Georgia. The plaintiff, identified as J.G., was trafficked as a minor over a roughly forty-day period in 2018 and 2019 at a motel in the Atlanta area. The jury awarded $40 million: $10 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages against the property owner. Post-trial motions are pending, and we cannot tell you whether that judgment will stand. But the case demonstrates that juries, when given the chance, are willing to impose massive punishment on property owners who profit from trafficking.
Several other cases against major chains are moving through the federal system. The consolidated litigation against Uber in the Northern District of California has produced an $8.5 million bellwether verdict against the company under an apparent agency theory, and a consolidated action against Lyft was created by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in February 2026. Multiple district courts have denied motions to dismiss franchisor defendants where the complaint alleged direct revenue from trafficking rooms, brand-imposed operational control, and ignored red flag patterns.
The legal terrain is uneven. Some courts side with the franchisor, others allow the claim to proceed. The right approach for a survivor is not to ask whether the law is friendly in the abstract. It is to find the lawyer and the facts that fit the law that applies in the case.
What It Costs a Survivor to Live With What Happened
Sex trafficking does not produce a single injury that heals. It produces a constellation of injuries that persist for decades. Post-traumatic stress disorder is the most common and the most litigated. Major depressive disorder is nearly universal. Substance use disorders develop as coping mechanisms. Traumatic brain injury is common when violence is involved. Sexually transmitted infections, reproductive harm, and chronic pelvic pain are documented consequences. The survivor’s education is interrupted. Her earning capacity is destroyed. Her relationships fracture.
The lifetime cost of rape and sexual assault has been measured by federal researchers in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per survivor, and that figure counts only the items that can be put on a receipt: medical care, lost productivity, criminal justice involvement. It does not begin to capture the years of therapy, the lost careers, the marriages that did not survive, the lives that did not go back to what they were before.
A life-care planner and a forensic economist build the number that captures this harm. The number is not a guess. It is built from the survivor’s individual medical record, her work history, her education, and the published cost-of-illness studies. A jury hears that number and decides what to award. The defense will argue the number is too high. Our job is to make sure the jury understands what it costs a human being to live with what happened to her.
We have seen federal juries return eight-figure verdicts against property owners in trafficking cases, and we have seen those judgments reduced or reversed on appeal. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. What we can tell you is that the cases with the largest recoveries share three things: contemporaneous evidence that the property owner knew, a credible survivor who can speak to what happened, and a lawyer who understands the TVPRA inside and out.
How Insurance Companies Fight Trafficking Cases
Sex trafficking claims against hotels involve insurance coverage questions that the survivor never sees but that determine whether a verdict is collectible. Most general liability policies written for hotels contain exclusions for assault and battery, for criminal acts, and sometimes for sex offenses. The insurer will deny coverage the moment a trafficking claim is tendered, forcing the survivor’s lawyer to litigate the coverage question separately while the underlying case proceeds.
This is not a reason to abandon the case. It is a reason to understand the architecture. A case against the hotel company itself, rather than only against the insurer, keeps the recovery alive. A case against the franchisor and the operator together, rather than only against the local property, keeps the recovery alive. A case that names every entity in the corporate family keeps the recovery alive.
When the insurance adjuster calls within days of the incident, the call is part of a playbook designed to protect the insurer, not the survivor. The adjuster will be friendly. The adjuster will ask for a recorded statement. The adjuster will offer a quick check. The adjuster will not mention the exclusion. The adjuster will not tell you that the recorded statement will be used to lock you into a version of events before your memory recovers. The adjuster will not tell you that the quick check comes with a release that ends your rights forever.
We hear the same playbook played the same way in case after case. Here is what it sounds like, and here is what to do instead.
The adjuster calls to ask how you are doing and to schedule a quick recorded statement to get your side of what happened. Do not give a recorded statement. You are still in the acute phase. Your memory is consolidating. What you say today will be quoted against you in deposition. Tell the adjuster you will cooperate through counsel, and then call us.
The adjuster sends a check with a release printed on the back. The check is small relative to what the case is worth, and the release is broad enough to cover every entity in the corporate family, every insurance policy, every future medical expense, and every claim you have not yet discovered. Do not cash the check. Do not sign the release. The release is the entire fight compressed into a single piece of paper.
The adjuster asks for your social media accounts, your medical records from before the incident, and your work history. None of this is required to evaluate a trafficking claim, and all of it will be used to find a reason to deny the claim. Provide only what your lawyer tells you to provide, and provide it through counsel so that scope and privilege are protected.
The adjuster delays. Every delay is a calculation. The adjuster knows that the longer you wait, the harder it is to preserve evidence, the more your memories fade, and the more likely you are to settle for less than the case is worth. The counter is to move fast on preservation and filing, and to let your lawyer control the calendar.
The First 72 Hours
If you are a survivor, or the family of a survivor, here is what the first three days look like when you call us.
Within the first twenty-four hours, we send preservation letters to every defendant we can identify, freezing the surveillance footage, the property management system records, the key card logs, the housekeeping logs, the incident reports, the employee training records, and the personnel files for the employees who staffed the front desk. We notify the federal court in the Southern District of Ohio that the evidence in the Doe case must be preserved against spoliation. We obtain the police call-for-service history for the property through public records requests.
Within the first forty-eight hours, we coordinate trauma-informed medical evaluation and connect the survivor with a psychologist who specializes in complex PTSD, because the case will require documented diagnosis, and because the survivor deserves care that the trafficker never provided.
Within the first seventy-two hours, we file the complaint, we activate our expert team (human trafficking forensic specialists, forensic accountants, hotel security experts, life-care planners), and we begin the discovery process that will produce the documents that win or lose the case.
What you do not do is also part of the plan. You do not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster. You do not sign a release. You do not post about the case on social media. You do not discuss the case with anyone other than your lawyer and your treatment providers. You do not let the defense take your deposition before your lawyer has had the chance to prepare you, and you do not let the defense’s expert evaluate you before your own expert has documented your injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue a hotel chain for sex trafficking that happened to me?
Yes. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1595(a), you can sue not just the trafficker but any business that knowingly benefited from the trafficking venture, including hotels, motels, and the corporate parents that own or license the brand. The key elements are that the hotel benefited financially from participation in a venture it knew or should have known was trafficking, and that you suffered damages as a result. We can evaluate whether your facts fit the statute during a free consultation.
How long do I have to file a trafficking lawsuit against a hotel?
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1595(c), you have ten years from the date the cause of action arose, or ten years from your eighteenth birthday if you were a minor when the trafficking occurred. Many survivors who think they have missed their deadline have not. Florida’s own trafficking statutes provide additional or alternative remedies, and the discovery rule can delay the start of the limitations clock until you connected the injury to its cause.
What if the hotel says the trafficker was not their employee?
The defense will almost always make this argument. It is not a complete defense. You can still reach the hotel through theories of negligent hiring and supervision, negligent security, negligent entrustment, apparent agency, and direct corporate negligence for failing to train staff or respond to red flags. The corporate structure of the hotel (who owns the building, who operates it, who licenses the brand) matters enormously. Our firm investigates the entire corporate family before deciding who to name.
What evidence do I need to prove a trafficking case against a hotel?
The strongest cases combine the survivor’s testimony with contemporaneous hotel records: surveillance video, key card logs, room folios, housekeeping logs, incident reports, and police call-for-service history for the property. The video is the most fragile and decays on a rolling thirty- to ninety-day cycle. That is why we send preservation letters within the first twenty-four hours of being retained. We also look for prior complaints about the same trafficker, prior incidents at the same property, and any history of red flags that the hotel documented internally.
What is my case worth?
Cases against hotels for trafficking have ranged from confidential settlements in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to federal jury verdicts in the tens of millions. The July 2025 Northern District of Georgia verdict of $40 million ($10 million compensatory and $30 million punitive) against a motel owner shows what juries are willing to do when the evidence supports it. Your case value depends on the duration of the trafficking, the severity of the physical and psychological injuries, the strength of the documentary evidence, the corporate wealth of the defendant, and the venue. We do not give ranges without reviewing the facts.
Will the hotel’s insurance cover my claim?
Often there is a coverage fight. General liability policies written for hotels routinely contain exclusions for assault and battery, criminal acts, and sometimes sex offenses. The insurer may deny coverage the moment a trafficking claim is tendered. That is not a reason to abandon the case. It is a reason to name the hotel company itself in addition to seeking insurance recovery, and to be prepared to litigate the coverage question in parallel with the underlying case.
Do I have to testify in court?
Many trafficking cases resolve before trial through motions practice, discovery, and settlement negotiations. If your case does go to trial, your testimony will be central, and we prepare you for it in detail. Our firm uses trauma-informed preparation methods and coordinates with your treatment providers so that the preparation process does not re-traumatize you. You are not alone in this. We sit with you through every step.
Can I remain anonymous?
The federal TVPRA allows survivors to proceed under a pseudonym (Jane Doe), and federal courts routinely grant that request in trafficking cases. The Florida plaintiff’s case is captioned Jane Doe (A.M.C.). Your identity can be protected from public disclosure while the case proceeds. We can discuss the specific protective orders available in your venue.
What if I was trafficked as a child?
The TVPRA’s statute of limitations gives you ten years from your eighteenth birthday, which means a survivor trafficked at fourteen has until she turns twenty-eight to file. Many states, including Florida, have extended their civil trafficking limitations to track or exceed the federal period. You are not too late. The discovery rule can also apply, which can extend the deadline further. Call us to find out where you stand.
Will it cost me anything to hire your firm?
No. We work on contingency. You pay nothing up front, and we advance all costs of investigation, records, experts, depositions, and trial. Our fee is one-third of any recovery before trial, and forty percent if the case proceeds to verdict. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The initial consultation is free and confidential.
How quickly do I need to act?
Immediately. Surveillance footage from the hotel decays on a rolling cycle of thirty to ninety days. Police call records may be archived. Witness memories fade. We send preservation letters within twenty-four hours of being retained. If you wait even a few weeks, evidence that could have proven your case may be legally destroyed.
What is the difference between suing the franchisor and the operator?
This is the central legal fight in hotel trafficking cases. The franchisor owns the brand and licenses it to a local operator. The operator owns the building and runs the front desk. The Eleventh Circuit’s 2021 ruling in Doe #1 v. Red Roof Inns dismissed claims against the franchisor, holding that licensing the brand and collecting franchise fees is not enough to make the brand a participant in trafficking. To reach the franchisor, you have to show the brand did more: that it controlled day-to-day operations, dictated training and security protocols, or directly benefited from the trafficking rooms. To reach the operator, you have to show the local property knew and failed to act. We investigate the entire corporate structure before deciding who to name.
What should I do if the insurance adjuster calls me?
Tell the adjuster you will cooperate through counsel. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not sign anything. Do not accept any check. Do not discuss the case with anyone other than your lawyer. Then call us. The adjuster’s first call is part of a documented playbook designed to lock you into a version of events before your memory has recovered and to extract a release before you understand what the case is worth.
Why is Attorney911 the right firm for this kind of case?
Attorney911 is The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. Ralph Manginello has practiced law for more than twenty-seven years and is admitted to federal court. Lupe Peña spent years inside the insurance defense industry, in the rooms where adjusters decided how to value and deny claims exactly like yours. He now uses that knowledge for injured people. Hablamos Español. We have been in business since 2001. We are contingency, which means you pay nothing unless we win. We have the resources to litigate against a national hotel chain, and the experience to do it right.
A Final Word
You came to this page because something happened, and you want to know what the law will do about it. The law will do what you ask it to do, but only if you ask. Every day you wait is a day the evidence decays and the defense gets stronger. Every day you call is a day we go to work on the case.
The hotline is 1-888-ATTY-911. Ralph is at (713) 528-9070, and his cell is (713) 443-4781. Lupe is at the same numbers. The website is Attorney911, where you can review our practice areas and learn more about our team: Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña.
Your consultation is free. Your call is confidential. We will listen, we will tell you honestly what we think, and if we are not the right firm for your case we will tell you that too and help you find someone who is. We do not need to take every case. We do need to hear from you.
If you are a survivor, you have survived. That is the hardest part. What comes next is a fight you do not have to fight alone.
Hablamos Español. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.