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Jury holds garage owner responsible for woman's rape; awards her several million dollars

The Herald reports a Suffolk Superior Court jury found the companies that owned and managed the Radisson Hotel in the Theatre District (now the Revere) shared blame for a woman's rape in its garage in 2009 because they should have bolstered security more after an earlier rape there. The jury awarded her $6.6 million with interest.

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her.

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How long before this is overturned on appeal, happens all the time.

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Don't think it will this time, since a woman was raped in the same location a week earlier, and the Radisson neither warned the guests nor added security.

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"After the earlier rape, hotel officials increased security with several measures, including posting an additional late night guard, defense lawyers argued." -- Globe article

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in the hotel lobby - no help to the victim in the parking garage who was dragged, by her hair, through the parking garage and raped in a stairwell, the attack lasting 25 minutes.

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was found responsible. But bad the jury saw fit to award the woman a lottery payout of $6.6 milllion.

After all, we saw how well the cash payouts in the clergy scandal worked for everyone.

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...and tell us that any amount of money is a "lottery payout", and that you're just jumping for joy. Do that. Until then, seriously, consider just shutting up on the subject.

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BIG BUCKS BABY! AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS GET RAPED FOR 25 MINUTES!!! WE'RE MOVING ON UP!!!

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For $4 million, I'll take that Indecent Proposal.

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happened to this woman. So why is money even a consideration here?

Yes, have the garage owner improve security, install additional cameras, fix the broken lighting, hire additional guards, etc. Compensate the woman for her legal fees and any unpaid medical bills. Agree to pay her for future counseling if it's determined that's appropriate.

Want to punish the garage owners for not taking measures to improve security after the first rape - have them donate their time and/or money to a rape crisis center.

But giving the woman additional cash in the guise of "punitive damages" is where I draw the line. It's slso one of the things that's seriously broken with our justice system, especially with civil lawsuits.

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So why is money even a consideration here?

Maybe you should consider that you don't know what her needs are, but it's a safe assumption that they're not the same as yours. "Unpaid medical bills" cover issues to date, not ongoing problems. "future counseling" doesn't cover living expenses if she's traumatized to the point where she has trouble functioning and holding down a job. So maybe you should just accept that you don't know and stop questioning the appropriateness of the award.

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"A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a civil wrong that unfairly causes someone else to suffer loss or harm resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act..."

Let me spell it out for ya: In this case, the hotel, who knew about a previous rape in their garage, did nothing to up their security (or to even publicize that there was a a recent rape in said garage) and thus, another rape occurred. The jury found the hotel negligent and their negligence caused a woman to be raped (harm) and rewarded the plaintiff accordingly.

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Cameras are so good and cheap now that it boggles the mind that companies don't invest in them. Cannot believe that insurance companies don't require their clients to have and upgrade cameras either. All too often footage looks like it came from a 1980s camcorder if it exists at all!

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In the case of security footage equipment, we know the camera leads the way and the footage capturing devices follow. At least that's what the security/AV consultant told my team when working on the CDs* for a courthouse ~8 years ago.

*Construction Documents, such as Specs and Drawings. IOW Contract documents.

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are probably the easiest spots to skim/launder/steal money from. If they all had cameras their managers and workers would be caught parking more cars than permitted, taking cash payments, shutting machines down, etc etc. Literally millions of dollars are stolen each year or not reported to the IRS from these places. You will often see Garage managers who make like 40k a year driving new Benz/BMWs into work. The last thing they want is accountability.

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She asked for 7-10 million and was ultimately awarded 4, the 6.6 INCLUDES the interest as it took that long for the civil trial to occur

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Can you imagine the response of the Jurors when the MBTA gets sued for the unsafe conditions at Alewife station. When asked what they have done to bolster security the head of security for the MBTA shows off the cardboard cop who patrols the station.

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I always worry about safety in parking garages. They are the perfect representation of every environment we are taught to avoid -- isolated, enclosed, lacking clear sightlines, etc. These days, I tend to assume that there are cameras and that, maybe, "somebody" is monitoring them. But I'm never sure. I don't have to use them often, but I think I'm going to start paying more attention, looking specifically for signs that there is, in fact, some kind of security system.

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Don't know about parking garages, but in most large businesses like retail places, cameras are not monitored. They're their just to capture evidence if needed after the fact. Walmart, for example, has security people ("loss prevention"/"asset protection" staff) walking the floor looking for shoplifters; the camera evidence only comes into play if someone gets caught by LP and tries to contest the accusation.

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If people were allowed to open carry say, a shotgun or katana

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Just shut up forever, good freaking God.

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Except for that niggling little detail of being able to use the weapon competently, you'd be spot on.

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And the detail that if people were able to open carry so would rapists. This isn't the wild west, we cant just have everyone who can afford to buy and train to arm themselves take care of themselves. An arms race is not the way to solve issues like rape. We are the most heavily armed populace in the world and we still have high rape, robbery and other violent crime rates compared to other wealthy countries (and even some non wealthy).

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I'm going to regret biting, but I'll do it anyway:

Sure, a potential rapist who sees a woman* who's literally weaponized is perhaps less likely to try to rape her. However, WHY SHOULD WOMEN HAVE TO CARRY WEAPONS IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING RAPED? Maybe men just, like, shouldn't rape people! I mean, if we're going to talk about pie-in-the-sky fantasies, how about focusing on men not raping - instead of on open-carry nonsense?

*I know men are rape victims, too. The vast majority of victims, especially of this kind of rape - assault in a lonely public place - are more likely to be female.

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The vast majority of men (and women) do not rape. Violent criminals will be violent criminals. I'd thank you to not paint me with the same brush just because I share a chromosome with some percentage of the perpetrators.

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Congrats on not raping anyone. Have a cookie. The vast majority of rapists are men. Tell other men not to rape people, do whatever you can to dismantle rape culture, and you can have another cookie.

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Rape is an act of violence and, yes, sex. Men rape men, men rape women, women rape men, women rape women. And, yes, the highest percentage is most likely men raping women. But how about we don't suppose that all men are potential rapists waiting to just happen and then we can move on from there? And, please, have a cookie.

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#NotAllMen

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The fuck argument are you making with that hashtag?

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The arguments I'm hearing from people - "I've never raped anyone and you're mean for saying men rape people!" - boil down to the tired old rallying cry of "not all men." Not all men rape women! What are you women complaining about! Etc., etc., etc. Generally, their assertions that they would never do such a thing, so stop saying it's a thing men do, are about as subtle and reasoned as, well....

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if we're going to talk about pie-in-the-sky fantasies

I agree. No need to teach children about stranger-danger. We can just, like, teach strangers not to danger.

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While you're teaching about "stranger danger", are you also teaching your children that they are most likely to be abused by a trusted adult? Like a parent, an older relative, or someone in a position of trust? Someone known, in other words, and...wait for it...not a stranger?

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I knew someone like you would come crawling out of the woodwork.

You should always be cautious and alert in the presence of strangers. There are awful people in the world, and there always have been, and there will always continue to be. But, y'know, we could try to stop encouraging men to think they deserve to take whatever they decide they want. If all the men who claim not to support rape culture actually called out other men for doing horrible, harmful shit, then maybe we'd see a decrease in rape here in the U.S. (where the stats are notably higher than in other "developed" countries).

I realize I'm being hopelessly idealistic - but, well, imagine all the people, etc., etc.

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I knew someone like you would come crawling out of the woodwork.

I'm a disabled transgender man of color and and a survivor. What exactly do you mean by "someone like you"?

Your tone is awfully condescending.

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I meant a troll, sweetie :)

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Although my katana is seriously hard to wield effectively unless I'm wearing sensible shoes. And I *never* wear those in hotel parking lots.

The shotgun, on the other hand, is easier for me to blast away at my assailant with abandon while being attacked & dragged by my hair. In heels & backwards.

As victim of violent sex assault myself - only one of very, very many in our world - it's a relief to use humor to highlight the absurdity of the constant stream suggestions of what victims fail to do to protect ourselves: adequately arm ourselves hours prior, unhesitatingly employ self-defense tactics with precision & expertise, scream just a little bit louder... the list goes on. When you get to the point that the defense attorney is suggesting this crap in front of a jury (in my case, just a judge) months or years after the attack, no monetary award captures a person's pain & suffering.

I didn't get a monetary award myself, but I refrain from judging the amount of this woman's award. There is no fair price for a person's humiliation. And I do not assume that is the only way she still suffers.

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