In a wild lawsuit, a Washington State woman is accusing The Ritz-Carlton and its parent company, Marriott, of negligence and sexual assault regarding an experience in which she allegedly was served a drink that had been contaminated with semen.
The woman, referred to as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and her husband were staying at the five-star luxury hotel for four days to celebrate her birthday last year, per KRON4. She reportedly claims that an employee there ejaculated into a hotel-branded water bottle and delivered it to the couple's room, where she drank it. According to the lawsuit, based on the “taste” and “texture” of the contents, she realized “it had been defiled by a criminal deviant and that she had been sexually assaulted.”
Both her and her husband then reportedly contacted the hotel's management and local law enforcement. In an attempt to address the incident, The Ritz-Carlton sent the water bottle in question to a laboratory for testing, as noted in the lawsuit. The results apparently confirmed the presence of semen, but the company refused to provide a copy of the lab test results to the couple and their doctors.
The plaintiff says she was concerned about contracting sexually transmitted virus, and says her husband felt unable to protect his wife. The couple believes the traumatic incident negatively affected their intimacy and the emotional depth of their relationship, per the lawsuit.
According to the filing, the hotel offered “a few measly” rewards points as compensation for the guests' ordeal, but the couple did not want to stay at another Ritz-Carlton property. The hotel employee also apparently faced no repercussions, although the couple suspects that the perpetrator may have done the same thing to “countless other unsuspecting hotel guests.” The lawsuit alleges that the hotel was negligent in its oversight of hotel-branded food and beverages served to guests and refuse to comply with law enforcement, as it “will not turn over the defiled water bottle so that law enforcement authorities can conduct their own analysis of that evidence” and cross-reference the DNA against sex-offender registries.
The Ritz-Carlton hasn’t yet made any public response.
Feature image of Half Moon Bay Ritz-Carlton via Google Street View.