McKenzie Keller v. Delquan Maurice Danford; Extended Stay America, Inc.; ESA P Portfolio LLC; ESA P Portfolio Operating Lessee, LLC; Red Lion Hotels Corporation; Sonesta International Hotels Corporation; WHC816, LLC; RL Salt Lake, LLC; Choice Hotels International, Inc.; Salt Lake Lodging, LLC; and CRRC Properties, LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Utah grants the Hotel Defendants’ motions to dismiss claims brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and Utah Code section 77-38-15. The court concludes that the TVPRA claims are not shown to be time-barred at the pleading stage, but that the complaint fails to plausibly allege the defendants’ requisite knowledge of force, fraud, or coercion supporting beneficiary or perpetrator liability. The court also dismisses the Utah-law claim, dismisses Extended Stay America, Inc. for lack of personal jurisdiction, and denies the plaintiff’s motion to amend.

Holdings

1. Dismissal of the TVPRA claims as time barred was not warranted at the pleading stage because the complaint alleged that trafficking occurred through 2015, leaving open a conceivable set of facts under which incidents occurred after July 21, 2015.
2. The complaint failed to plausibly allege that the Hotel Defendants knew or should have known that the venture from which they allegedly benefited involved sex trafficking through force, threats, fraud, or coercion.
3. The complaint failed to plausibly allege perpetrator liability because it did not show that the Hotel Defendants knew of or recklessly disregarded the use of force, threats, fraud, or coercion to cause Keller to engage in commercial sex acts.
4. The court properly denied Plaintiff's one-sentence request for leave to amend and denied her separate motion to amend as futile.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the TVPRA claims were barred by the statute of limitations on the face of the complaint.
2. Whether the complaint plausibly alleged beneficiary liability under 18 U.S.C. § 1595 based on the Hotel Defendants' knowing benefit from a venture engaged in sex trafficking.
3. Whether the complaint plausibly alleged perpetrator liability under the TVPRA based on the Hotel Defendants' knowing or reckless disregard of force, threats, fraud, or coercion.
4. Whether the court had personal jurisdiction over Extended Stay America, Inc.
5. Whether Plaintiff's request for leave to amend in her opposition and her separate motion to amend should be granted.

Disposition

other