A Portsmouth lawyer has filed a federal lawsuit against four hotel chains alleging they ignored “the open and obvious presence of sex trafficking on their properties, enjoying the profit from rooms rented for this explicit and apparent purpose instead.”
Attorney Michael Rainboth — who previously brought high-profile cases against the maker of an addictive fentanyl spray and on behalf of patients harmed by a Hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital — filed the new suit on behalf of a woman identified as K.B. She is described as legally declared a “vulnerable adult” and a survivor of sex trafficking in New Hampshire.
The lawsuit is one of multiple filed across the country with similar accusations and a request is pending to consolidate them in an Ohio court.
U. S. District Court of New Hampshire Judge Andrea Johnstone allowed Rainboth’s new suit to be filed without the woman’s name and took under advisement a request for her to remain anonymous, until the named hotel chains file responses to the suit. Rainboth’s Dec. 9 suit is filed against Intercontinental Hotels Corporation, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Best Western International and Marriott international.
The defendants, who are out-of-state parent companies of local hotel chains, have not yet responded to the suit and no lawyers have filed appearances yet to represent them. READ MORE>>