Three women have secured a $17.5 million settlement after contending that the Philadelphia hotels where their bodies were sold for sex as minors were aware they were hubs for human trafficking but failed to take measures to protect potential victims.
Attorneys with Kline & Specter, a Pennsylvania law firm, secured the settlement on behalf of the three women, as The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Wednesday. The settlement was reached on March 13, and the victims will receive the $17.5 million from the Motel 6, Days Inn and North American Motor Inn.
The plaintiffs, whose names were not mentioned in court documents to protect their identities, filed their respective lawsuits against the Philadelphia hotels between 2022 and 2024 in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.
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Two of the unnamed women said that they were trafficked at the Motel 6 and the Days Inn on Roosevelt Boulevard, while the third alleged that she was trafficked at the Motel 6 and the North American Motors Inn on City Avenue.
All three women alleged that the hotels allowed them to be trafficked between May 2015 and January 2017 when they were 14 to 17 years old, as The Philadelphia Inquirer noted.
According to the lawsuits, the hotels failed to implement adequate security measures despite knowledge of criminal activities on their properties. Despite repeated police visits and a “general awareness of the signs of human trafficking and criminal activity,” the businesses reportedly did not take steps to address these issues.
“They felt that police were responding to criminal activity, but it wasn’t their problem to deal with,” Emily Marks, a Kline & Specter attorney who represented the three women, said in a statement shared by the outlet this week.
Regardless of the amount of time that has passed since the trafficking took place, Marks noted that victims of this type of crime still deserve to have their voices heard.
“The reality is that they feel a lot of guilt and shame about what happened to them, although this was not their fault,” the attorney said. “So bringing these claims, telling what happened to them, I think gives them hope that people are listening out there and things will change.”
The Motel 6, Days Inn and North American Motor Inn did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned on its website last August, traffickers often use hotels and motels to conduct their operations. Staff within the hospitality industry may lack the training to spot the warning signs.
The department listed several signs of human trafficking, advising staff members to look out for individuals who “show signs of malnourishment, poor hygiene, fatigue, sleep deprivation, untreated illness, injuries, and/or unusual behavior.” Hotel and motel staff are advised to assess whether the individual appears to lack freedom of movement.
Another potential indicator of human trafficking listed by the DHS includes “Excessive amounts of sex paraphernalia in rooms (condoms, lubricant, lotion, etc.).”
In 2023, a hotel clerk in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, thwarted a sex trafficking operation involving two girls. The clerk at the Lago Motor Inn became suspicious after he entered the room and saw the girls sitting on a bed with a 44-year-old man. He also observed a condom on the bed beside the older man, which only added to his suspicions.
“The witness stated he called police after observing how young the two girls appeared to be and their demeanor,” the Palm Beach County Police Department stated in a
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