Jury awards $1.8 million to woman raped by Skokie hotel’s on-duty security guard

CHICAGO (February 24, 2022) – A Cook County jury has awarded $1.8 million to a Texas businesswoman who was raped by an on-duty security guard of the hotel she was staying at while traveling to the Chicago area on business.

On October 2, 2013, 49-year-old mother of three, Karla Gress of the Dallas, Texas area, was staying at the Holiday Inn Chicago Northshore – Skokie, owned by Lakhani Hospitality Inc, on a work trip. At the time, Mrs. Gress worked as a medical transcription software trainer. That evening, Mrs. Gress returned to her hotel after work and visited the Bar Louie located inside the Holiday Inn premises. Around 9:20 p.m., Mrs. Gress paid her tab and returned to her room about 20 minutes later.

Just before 10 p.m., records show Mrs. Gress called the front desk of the hotel for assistance with her air conditioning. Hotel employee and security guard Alhagie Singhateh was sent to Karla’s room, alone, to investigate the issue.

Throughout that evening, evidence shows Singhateh went back up to Mrs. Gress’s room on numerous occasions. During one of these visits, Singhateh, while on duty, sexually assaulted Mrs. Gress.

Mrs. Gress reported the attack within 24 hours of the assault in her home state of Texas and immediately underwent a rape kit. The DNA found in the rape kit came back as a match to Singhateh.

Despite the immediate investigation and DNA match, the Defendants continued to employ Singhateh at the Holiday Inn Skokie for more than a year after the attack. He was only terminated after another incident and additional complaints of him making other female guests feel uncomfortable.

Mrs. Gress’ attorneys argue that the owners of the Holiday Inn Northshore – Skokie, were negligent on a multitude of levels, including being aware of the security guard’s likelihood of committing such acts based on his employee file.

“Hotel management facilitated the assault by sending a male security guard into Karla’s room, knowing that he had a key and despite being forewarned that she was intoxicated. Rather than protecting Karla’s privacy and safety in her locked room, hotel management endangered it,” Plaintiff’s attorney Tara R. Devine of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard said. “This attack was completely avoidable and stems from the Defendants’ failure to take the appropriate measures to protect their guests.”

A lawsuit against the hotel was filed in 2015, went up on appeal on a motion to dismiss in 2017, and reinstated in 2018. The trial began on February 7, 2022 in Cook County Circuit Court before the Honorable Judge Robert Sennechalle Jr.

On February 24, 2022, a Cook County jury awarded Mrs. Gress $1.8 million to compensate her for her past loss of a normal life and emotional distress.

“Nothing can take away the emotional harm Karla has suffered in the almost 10 years since the attack. This verdict represents an important step in the healing process, justifies Karla’s case and sends a strong reminder to hotels and their staff that it is imperative that policies are in place to protect guests from harm on their watch,” Plaintiff’s attorney Brian Monico of Hale & Monico said.

Mrs. Gress was also represented by attorneys Jaclyn J. Kurth of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard and John Chwarzynski Jr. of Hale & Monico.

For more information, please contact Marcie Mangan at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan@salvilaw.com.

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Case No.: 18 L 7330  [Karla Gress, et al., v. Lakhani Hospitality Inc., et al.]