Woman wins damages in hotel bed mix-up
Rachelle Shaner said she was sound asleep in a comfortable bed at a downtown Orlando luxury hotel when she awoke to find a drunken stranger stripped down to his underwear kissing and fondling her.
On Thursday, an Orange County jury awarded Shaner more than $75,000 in her lawsuit against the Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel, whose staff mistakenly had checked the man into the room Shaner already was sleeping in.
In a four-day trial in Orange Circuit Court, Shaner's attorney, George Nader, argued that his client had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder since the Nov. 2, 2001, incident at the hotel on South Orange Avenue.
Shaner, who lives in Washington state and was 31 years old at the time, was on a business trip and had been staying in the hotel for several days.
About 1:30 a.m., she testified, she awoke to find a man, dressed only in his underwear, partially on top of her, kissing her and fondling her breasts.
"He had my pajama shirt pulled up," Shaner testified. "He was very intoxicated. He smelled very much of alcohol."
"I felt if I had not woken up when I did, he would have raped me," she testified.
Tyrone King, an attorney representing the hotel, acknowledged that the hotel staff had mistakenly allowed Andrew Dula to check into Shaner's room and had given him a key.
Court records stated that hotel employees said when they checked Shaner into her room, they failed to complete the transaction. That made it appear the room was vacant in the hotel's computer system.
But King called the mix-up "an honest mistake," and he disputed Shaner's claim that she suffered severe emotional problems after the incident. He also pointed out conflicting testimony from Shaner and Dula, who lives in Brevard County.
Shaner said that when she awoke, she screamed at the man and told him to leave, and he replied, "Why can't we both stay here? What's going on?"
She called hotel security staff, and when they came to the room and realized what had happened, Dula was moved to another room. Shaner said the man called her a short time later and told her, "Now that we've met" he wanted to talk to her, but she hung up.
Shaner said she was so upset she vomited that night, hardly slept and later sought psychiatric care. She said she turned down an offer of a promotion that would have earned her an extra $40,000 a year because the hotel episode had made her afraid to travel and stay by herself. A psychiatric expert testified that Shaner was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Dula testified that he did not assault the woman. He acknowledged that he had been drinking, but he said he didn't know anyone else was in the room until he got undressed and climbed under the covers. He was never charged with any crime.
A psychiatric expert testified for the defense that Shaner was "upset" by the experience, but didn't suffer permanent emotional damage. And he noted that Shaner said she was addicted to a prescription painkiller at the time of the incident, and went through withdrawal a month later, suggesting that was responsible for her emotional problems.
King said Shaner spent the rest of the night of the incident in the same hotel room, which he said suggested she wasn't as fearful as she claimed.
"Where's the fear? Where's the horror?" King said. "It was an unsettling event. It was an inconvenience."
But Nader said if Shaner was only after money, she could have embellished her story.
"If she was going to make it up, don't you think she could jazz it up more?" Nader said.
Nader asked the jury of three men and three woman to award Shaner about $180,000 to cover past and future medical bills and lost earnings. The jury, which deliberated about four hours, awarded about $77,000, most of it for emotional damage.
Shaner said after the verdict that she was satisfied.
"I'm happy," she said. "I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen to anybody else in that hotel. I think I got my point across."
Rachelle Shaner said she was sound asleep in a comfortable bed at a downtown Orlando luxury hotel when she awoke to find a drunken stranger stripped down to his underwear kissing and fondling her.
On Thursday, an Orange County jury awarded Shaner more than $75,000 in her lawsuit against the Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel, whose staff mistakenly had checked the man into the room Shaner already was sleeping in.
In a four-day trial in Orange Circuit Court, Shaner's attorney, George Nader, argued that his client had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder since the Nov. 2, 2001, incident at the hotel on South Orange Avenue.
Shaner, who lives in Washington state and was 31 years old at the time, was on a business trip and had been staying in the hotel for several days.
About 1:30 a.m., she testified, she awoke to find a man, dressed only in his underwear, partially on top of her, kissing her and fondling her breasts.
"He had my pajama shirt pulled up," Shaner testified. "He was very intoxicated. He smelled very much of alcohol."
"I felt if I had not woken up when I did, he would have raped me," she testified.
Tyrone King, an attorney representing the hotel, acknowledged that the hotel staff had mistakenly allowed Andrew Dula to check into Shaner's room and had given him a key.
Court records stated that hotel employees said when they checked Shaner into her room, they failed to complete the transaction. That made it appear the room was vacant in the hotel's computer system.
But King called the mix-up "an honest mistake," and he disputed Shaner's claim that she suffered severe emotional problems after the incident. He also pointed out conflicting testimony from Shaner and Dula, who lives in Brevard County.
Shaner said that when she awoke, she screamed at the man and told him to leave, and he replied, "Why can't we both stay here? What's going on?"
She called hotel security staff, and when they came to the room and realized what had happened, Dula was moved to another room. Shaner said the man called her a short time later and told her, "Now that we've met" he wanted to talk to her, but she hung up.
Shaner said she was so upset she vomited that night, hardly slept and later sought psychiatric care. She said she turned down an offer of a promotion that would have earned her an extra $40,000 a year because the hotel episode had made her afraid to travel and stay by herself. A psychiatric expert testified that Shaner was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Dula testified that he did not assault the woman. He acknowledged that he had been drinking, but he said he didn't know anyone else was in the room until he got undressed and climbed under the covers. He was never charged with any crime.
A psychiatric expert testified for the defense that Shaner was "upset" by the experience, but didn't suffer permanent emotional damage. And he noted that Shaner said she was addicted to a prescription painkiller at the time of the incident, and went through withdrawal a month later, suggesting that was responsible for her emotional problems.
King said Shaner spent the rest of the night of the incident in the same hotel room, which he said suggested she wasn't as fearful as she claimed.
"Where's the fear? Where's the horror?" King said. "It was an unsettling event. It was an inconvenience."
But Nader said if Shaner was only after money, she could have embellished her story.
"If she was going to make it up, don't you think she could jazz it up more?" Nader said.
Nader asked the jury of three men and three woman to award Shaner about $180,000 to cover past and future medical bills and lost earnings. The jury, which deliberated about four hours, awarded about $77,000, most of it for emotional damage.
Shaner said after the verdict that she was satisfied.
"I'm happy," she said. "I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen to anybody else in that hotel. I think I got my point across."
