A federal jury has ordered the former owner of a Super 8 hotel in College Park, Georgia, to pay $164 million to a woman who said she was trafficked there as a teenager.
Lincoln Bancorp LLC was found liable for $44 million in compensatory damages and $120 million in punitive damages after a three-day trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The plaintiff, identified in court documents by the initials J.R. to protect her privacy, was 15 when traffickers began taking her to the hotel on Old National Highway in 2020. Evidence presented at trial indicated that she was repeatedly brought to the property over a period of about 120 days in 2020 and 2021.
Her lawyer, Patrick McDonough, said the hotel had created an environment in which children could be sold for sex. He also alleged that staff warned traffickers when police were approaching the property.
“They set up an environment for children to be sold,” Mr McDonough said. “This hotel operator would actually warn the traffickers if the police were coming.”
Jurors reached their decision after about two hours of deliberations. The award included punitive damages intended to punish the company and deter similar conduct.
Hotel operator faces further trafficking claims
Lincoln Bancorp owned and operated the Super 8 at the time of the alleged trafficking. The property has since changed hands, and the company did not respond to requests for comment.
At least two other cases brought by women who say they were trafficked at the same hotel while they were minors remain pending, according to Mr McDonough.
The verdict follows a $40 million award against a DeKalb County hotel last year involving a 16-year-old victim. That case was the first in Georgia in which a hotel was found civilly liable for sex trafficking.
Lawyers for the College Park plaintiff have described the latest award as the largest US verdict of its kind. The case was brought under federal laws allowing trafficking survivors to seek damages from businesses alleged to have knowingly benefited from the exploitation.
