Joshua M. Bowman quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on hotel chain facing TVPRA suit

Joshua M. Bowman, partner and Chair of the firm’s Hospitality Practice Group, was quoted in a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article titled “Judge: hotel chain must face TVPRA suit over sex trafficking claims.” This article describes an incident in which a victim claims a hotel chain and one of its franchisees knew or should have known that it participated in a sex trafficking venture.

From the article:

Bowman said Saris’ decision is, to his knowledge, the first time a Massachusetts judge has issued a decision consistent with a long line of cases around the country expanding the agency-principal relationship to hotel branding companies based on the level of control they exert over a franchisee.

“To me, this is a really broad interpretation of that and an expansion of that because Hilton had very little actual control over the day-to-day operations at this hotel,” he said.

It may have been a tactical error for the defendant hotel chain not to challenge that federal principal agency law should apply to the case, he suggested.

“This has been an area that has been hotly litigated in other states, so I do think that it was a mistake on the defendant’s part,” he said.

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