FORT LAUDERDALE, FL— As if the specter of dwindling revenues and burgeoning costs for such things as energy, insurance, and others, are not enough to keep hoteliers pinched, there is another liability issue now being explored by some state legislatures that stands to squeeze the lodging sector even more. Hotel owners and operators may soon be held accountable— to the full extent of the law— for the actions of their employees, especially if they fail to adequately examine their past history, according to James Norman, Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based partner for the law practice of Holland & Knight LLP and co-chair of the firm’s Global Hospitality and Resort Practice Group. On the other hand, if hoteliers probe too deeply into an applicant’s background, those same hotel owners and operators risk being slapped with invasion of privacy charges. The impetus for this particular conundrum revolves around increased concerns over guest security. There is currently a movement in state legislatures to require employers to perform criminal background checks on all potential employees, with these legislative initiatives collectively becoming known around the country as Nan’s Law, said Norman— who has been following developments in this arena along with fellow Holland & Knight Partner/Co-Chair for the Global Hospitality and Resort Practice Group Nelson Migdal and Global Hospitality and Resort Group Member Aliza Carrino. “Guests assume they can trust hotel employees to help keep them safe and secure during their stay, and count on the staff to be part of the security [system]and not a risk factor. This sense of security, or the lack of [same], is part of the guest experience that may play an important part in a [their]decision to stay at a particular hotel— or even with a particular hotel chain— in the future,” Norman said. “Violent crimes committed against hotel guests are, fortunately, not a common occurrence. Rarer still are attacks by hotel employees. The nature of our society is now such that these isolated instances generate significant media attention,” he said. “Although no hotel owner or operator can totally guarantee guest safety, or that their employees will never commit crimes against hotel guests, the political response to highly public cases often attempts to hold hotels to the standard of almost absolute safety.” The line of proposed legislative action was precipitated when— during the course of a 1996 business trip— Nan Toder checked into the Crestwood Hampton Inn in Illinois, a suburban Chicago hotel located in an industrial area near Interstate 294. The property was reportedly owned at that time by Crestwood Motel Partners, a limited partnership owned by the Albanese Development Corp. out of Springfield, IL, and operated then as a Promus brand. “For added security, she locked the door and cautiously placed her fully packed suitcases in front of the hotel room door every evening. What [she]did not anticipate was that her greatest danger would not come from lax hotel security allowing a stranger to wander the hotel hallways, or even from other hotel guests, but from a hotel manager,” Norman said. “Christopher Richee used his position as a manager at the hotel to access guestroom keys, and he illegally entered Nan’s room as she slept, brutally torturing and ultimately strangling [her]to death,” according to Norman. During the murder investigation, it was learned Richee had a history of criminal behavior— including the unlawful use of a weapon and allegations of stalking a female co-worker, he said. “Richee’s employer, the hotel operator, had not performed a criminal-background check and therefore, had no actual knowledge of Richee’s criminal past,” Norman said. “Richee is now serving a life sentence— without parole— for his crime against Nan.” Further, in the spring of 2003, Nan’s parents— Sol and Lin Toder— won a $4.6million judgment against the operator of the hotel, who had hired and employed Richee, Nor
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