Georgia Resort To Pay $40M To Survivor Of Intercourse Trafficking

[ad_1] by Jeroslyn JoVonn July 28, 2025

The intercourse trafficking sufferer was exploited over 200 occasions on its property

A Georgia lodge that housed a intercourse trafficking survivor who was bought over 200 occasions on its property is being ordered to pay the sufferer $40 million.

On July 25, the sufferer, recognized solely as J.G., was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages by a federal jury, in line with The Unbiased. The decision, issued beneath a federal anti-trafficking regulation, focused Northbrook Industries, Inc., the proprietor and operator of the United Inn & Suites in Decatur, the place the abuse happened.

At simply 16 years previous, J.G. was trafficked greater than 200 occasions over 40 days between 2018 and 2019, usually in plain sight of lodge employees. The lodge is accused of disregarding apparent crimson flags, corresponding to dozens of males coming and going from her room and a police alert figuring out her as a lacking minor.

“Punitive damages aren’t only a message to this lodge; punitive damages are a message and a press release to the hospitality business,” stated the survivor’s legal professional, Patrick McDonough. “And what it says is, if you happen to’re going to run one in all these accommodations, you have to do your due diligence. There’s loads of nice folks that run nice accommodations and who do the correct factor…it’s simply there’s sure locations on the market that determine they’re going to place income over folks and on this case, over kids.”

In the course of the trial, J.G. recounted the bodily abuse and the emotional and psychological trauma she endured. A DeKalb County vice detective testified that, on the time, the United Inn & Suites ranked among the many county’s high 5 business intercourse trafficking hotspots. Regardless of this, the lodge allegedly uncared for to coach its employees or implement primary security measures, one thing McDonough blasted the lodge for.

“You’ve received to coach your employees that you simply don’t promote condoms to 16-year-olds after they come as much as the entrance desk,” McDonough stated. “It's good to confirm, does this look proper, that there’s children on this room by themselves and 20 males have gone out and in each half-hour.”

Attorneys for the lodge denied any wrongdoing and claimed the lodge staff weren’t conscious that trafficking was happening. J.G.’s lawsuit makes historical past as the primary within the nation to succeed in a jury verdict beneath the federal Trafficking Victims Safety Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which permits survivors to pursue civil damages not solely from traffickers and patrons but in addition from third events, like accommodations, that knowingly profit from trafficking.

“She was trafficked out of the United Inn & Suites off Memorial Drive in DeKalb County,” stated Emma Hetherington, a medical affiliate professor on the College of Georgia Faculty of Regulation and director of the Wilbanks Baby Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic. “The claims right here beneath the TVPRA are primarily that the lodge knowingly benefited financially from being in enterprise with the traffickers.”

The survivor additionally filed swimsuit beneath Georgia’s negligence regulation, claiming the lodge failed to keep up a protected atmosphere and ignored clear warning indicators.