A female student at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) has brought a lawsuit against a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in North Austin on claims she was sexually assaulted on the premises, according to a report from Austin FOX affiliate KTBC.
Houston attorney Anna Greenburg is representing the woman, who is identified by her initials.
Per Greenburg, KTBC reported, what happened to her client is on the defendant.
"It was something that was completely preventable," Greenburg told the station. "This is a case where a hotel failed to provide basic security to one of its hotel guests. And unfortunately, it resulted in my client being sexually assaulted."
Court papers explain that the woman, known as "M.W.", booked a room at the hotel for her 21st birthday, KTBC reported.
The woman later met and joined another group of guests for drinks at the hotel bar, the complaint says, per the station.
M.W. was allegedly intoxicated to the point where one of the women she met attempted to take her back to her room.
According to the suit, KTBC reported, the plaintiff received a replacement key card after she lost her original one but the respondent failed to deactivate the card M.W. misplaced.
A man purportedly found the missing card and used it to access the complainant's room at least twice, with the final time being the instance he allegedly sexually assaulted the 21-year-old, the suit further states.
Greenburg, whose law firm successfully won a sexual assault case against a Houston hotel last year, faults the defendant for failing to adhere to own its policy, the station reported.
"They have a very basic policy in place, and for whatever reason, that policy wasn't followed," the attorney told KTBC. "Their failure to void a lost key caused her to be sexually assaulted, and so that is negligent conduct."