Erin Andrews Sues Hotel Chains Over Secret Tapes

CHICAGO — ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, who was secretly videotaped nude while staying at hotels, filed a lawsuit Thursday against seven hotels and the suburban Chicago man who admitted making the tapes.

Andrews filed the suit in Cook County against the hotels for negligence and invasion of privacy, about seven months after Michael David Barrett, of Westmont, Ill., pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles to interstate stalking.

Andrews' lawsuit alleges the hotels confirmed where Barrett was staying and gave out her room number without her permission.

Andrews, who was recently a contestant on the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars," is asking for more than $1.2 million from the hotels and Barrett for "severe and permanent emotional distress," according to the complaint.

Barrett pleaded guilty in December to renting hotel rooms next to Andrews in three cities, altering the peepholes and shooting videos in two locations – in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008 and in Nashville, Tenn., seven months later. Prosecutors accused him of contacting 14 hotels asking for Andrews' information.

He was accused of posting the videos online and trying to sell them to Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ last year.

Barrett was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in March.

Along with Barrett, the complaint named Marriott International Inc.; West End Hotel Partners LLC and Nashville Marriott At Vanderbilt University; Windsor Capital Group Inc.; Radisson Hotels International Inc.; Ashtel Inc. and Radisson Hotel Milwaukee Airport; Ohio State University and The Blackwell Inn; and Preferred Hotel Group Inc. and Summit Hotels & Resorts.

Marriott, Windsor, Preferred and Ohio State and the Nasville Marriott declined to comment. Ashtel and Radisson could not be reached.

It was not immediately clear who would be representing Barrett in the civil suit, and his defense attorney from the federal prosecution did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday night.

Andrews said she hoped the lawsuit would force the hotels to be more vigilant when they check in a guest.

"Although I'll never be able to fully erase the impact that this invasion of privacy has had upon me and my family, I do hope that my experience will cause the hospitality industry to be more vigilant in protecting its guests from the time they reserve a hotel room until they check out," she said in a written statement.

Comments

[nik101]

05:47 PM on 07/19/2010

These hotels gave out her room number to a sick pervert. I hope she takes them to the cleaners and then some.

[Tacking it Easy]

04:07 PM on 07/19/2010

Does anyone know why Ohio State is mentioned on the complaint? Seems kind of odd to me.

[Topfeeder]

01:54 PM on 07/19/2010

If she were trying to exact change from the hotels she would only be suing for one dollar. She is trying to capitalize on the invasion of her privacy. No respect for her.

[Quasi Libertarian]

07:41 AM on 07/19/2010

Some of the comments against EA are remarkable­. Talk about attacking the victim. This gal was minding her own business as a cute sideline reporter doing her job and minding her own business when this creep violated her.

What did she do?...What we as a society tell victims to do...fight back and stand up for yourself and let the law take care of things. She cooperated with the police and went to court and looked this deviant in the eye and sent him to jail.

Erin Andrews did't ask for the new fame, but like any of us she is merely taking advantage of the opportunit­ies that is being presented to her and it seems that there are some (out of jelousy perhaps) that don't seem to like the fact that EA is propering a bit.

You don't think she isn't going to look over her shoulder everytime?­...She also has to deal with the very nasty remarks from a bunch of immature college young men that tease her from around the nation about the incident at the college sports she covers...

Most of you will never have to worry about being attractive enough to have a stalker chase you around the nation wanting to see any of you undressed.­....probab­ly the reverse...­.

[JohnnyLawson]

12:24 PM on 07/19/2010

MEEOWW!!

[PrincessAnnie]

12:02 AM on 07/19/2010

I agree with her reasons for filing a lawsuit, but I'm kind of getting sick of her going on about the "permanent damage" a stupid Peeping Tom caused. I was mugged at gunpoint four years ago and was assaulted in the process. There are many who have been through even worse than that. I can assure her and everyone else that life goes on.

[DoUntoOthers]

04:04 PM on 07/18/2010

Can I videotape her deposition­?

[BurritoT]

11:32 PM on 07/17/2010

So does the money make her feel safer, less violated? Has she developed a fear for staying in hotels, and it now affects her career? Give me a break.

[Twrexx]

09:08 PM on 07/17/2010

I'm astounded by the level of idiocy and hypocrisy evident here. Erin Andrews has a strong case against the hotel chains if they did indeed give out private informatio­n about her. Her privacy was violated and nude pictures of her were posted on the Internet, without her permission­, for all the world to see. Yet when I read the comments, so many people accusing her of trying to "cash in." She has every right to sue and is correct in doing so.

Her being famous is irrelevant­. If it were your daughter who was photograph­ed nude without her permission­, you'd all be in court doing the same thing and you know it.

[reasonshouldrule]

09:28 PM on 07/17/2010

Fanned and faved for a great post. You've made the important point here, and just because some posters here are bewilderin­gly obtuse doesn't change that. Some of these posters sound like men who resent women sports reporters. You know the type.

[Twrexx]

10:35 PM on 07/17/2010

Indeed. It's the same type who think Mel Gibson should get a pass on domestic violence because his girlfriend is "obviously a golddigger­."

[Margo Arrowsmith]

06:57 AM on 07/18/2010

Another fanned and faved.

And good grief, she is suing for a an amount that won't change her life and is nothing to them. She is making a point that needs to be made.

[tlaltecuhtli]

05:43 PM on 07/17/2010

Why, oh why, does HuffPost continue to cover this type of bat guano on the "Sports" tab? C'mon guys, if you truly wish to distinguis­h yourselves then get real and add a "Sex & Gossip" tab, and reserve this one for sports. Do we have to put on hip waders to get through the high school locker room atmosphere to read about Wimbledon, the World Cup, Tiger's GOLF game, or the other SPORTS - and NOT Sporting - events that take place in the world? Sheesh!!!!

[OnlyIfIHaveTo]

04:58 PM on 07/17/2010

Were those videos even watchable? Were they of her just prancing around her room in the buff?

[JEFF N]

12:12 PM on 07/17/2010

You can't play both sides of the fence here, being the strong survivor and using your new level of celebrity to revamp your career on one end, then play the victim who is permanentl­y damaged from the same event you just cashed in on.

[Gemelo]

09:11 AM on 07/17/2010

agreed. it's the best thing that has ever happened to her career....­in other words, she has continuall­y milked and exploited the episode to her neverendin­g benefit.

She should be paying the hotel.

[Puller58]

08:17 AM on 07/17/2010

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Hotel's culpabilit­y in this case is hard to gauge. How are they supposed to know someone is doing this? The quaint old concept of the hotel detective might be amusing in movies or television­, but in real life I don't think they do much outside of trying to prevent theft. Andrews' legal team will not doubt come up with expert witnesses that will offer opinions on what the hotel should have been doing, and the hotel will likely make the case that there's a standard of reasonable precaution­s that should be expected of any business. It all comes down to what a jury will think.

[BrentWI]

12:10 PM on 07/17/2010

It'll never get to a jury. She's just looking for an out of court settlement­.

[reasonshouldrule]

09:30 PM on 07/17/2010

If you're right, that means she's got a good case.

[trutheau]

06:32 PM on 07/17/2010

No way. If it's found that someone working at the hotel gave the perp informatio­n pertaining to her room status, they're screwed. I have a hotel management degree and part of that is hospitalit­y law. You can't even give info to people who can prove they are related, even in an emergency.
I think the Marriot's going to have to bite the bullet on this one.

[reasonshouldrule]

09:31 PM on 07/17/2010

Thanks for inserting a dose of reality here. Some posters here need to sit down and actually think.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

08:02 AM on 07/17/2010

1.2 million is a lot of money, but it isn't enough to change Erin Andrews' life, certainly not enough to make it worth her trouble. She could get more than that doing something else with that time.

However, it will hopefully get a message through to hotels that they have an obligation to protect us. We pay them a lot of money to give us a safe place to sleep, bath, relax and other things when we are on the road. They need to do their jobs.

So, no I don't think that Erin Andrews is doing this for greed. Her lawyer will get a lot of it and again, she could make more easier.

[micaroni715]

04:51 AM on 07/17/2010

Why is she suing?
The Sony commercial she did with Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake was after the scandal broke.