Greer Law Group, Colorado Hotel Sexual Assault Lawyer

Hotel and Resort Sexual Assault Attorney Serving Denver and All of Colorado

A hotel sells you a locked door. That is most of what you are paying for.

When a guest is sexually assaulted in a hotel, the question is rarely just who did it. It is how that person got access. Who handed out the key. Which camera was broken. Which complaint about that employee was already sitting in a file. This is the work The Pink Advocate takes on: civil claims against hotels, motels, resorts, and the management companies and brands behind them, when their choices put a guest within reach of someone dangerous.

The call is free and it stays confidential. 303-331-6460.

How these cases usually happen

Assault by hotel staff: housekeeping, maintenance, room service, valet, front desk, or contract security
A staff member entering a room with a master key or keycard when no one asked for service
Someone given a duplicate key to an occupied room, or a room number handed out at the front desk
An intruder who walked through a propped side door, a broken lock, or an unstaffed entrance
Assault in a stairwell, parking garage, pool area, elevator, or hallway with no working cameras and no patrol
Assault connected to trafficking, where staff saw the signs and checked them in anyway
A known problem employee or a known problem property with earlier complaints that went nowhere

Our focus is the institution’s role. If a hotel’s security, hiring, or key control had anything to do with what happened to you, that is the case we want to hear about.

What makes a hotel legally responsible

A claim against the hotel is a separate claim from one against the person who assaulted you, and it is usually the one with real resources behind it. What tends to matter:

Key and keycard control, and whether the system logs every entry that is made
Whether staff were screened before being given access to occupied rooms
Earlier complaints, incident reports, or police calls at that property
Camera coverage, and whether the cameras were working or only mounted
Security staffing at the hours when the property is most exposed
Exterior doors, locks, lighting, and whether anyone checked them
Training on what to do when staff see signs of trafficking or coercion
What the brand or management company required, audited, and enforced

Colorado law that affects your case

A claim against the hotel runs through the Premises Liability Act. C.R.S. 13-21-115 governs claims by people injured on someone else’s property, and the Colorado Supreme Court has held it is the exclusive remedy for a person injured on another’s land (Vigil v. Franklin, 103 P.3d 322 (Colo. 2004)). A paying hotel guest is an invitee under the statute, which is the most protective category. An invitee may recover for damages caused by the landowner’s unreasonable failure to exercise reasonable care to protect against dangers it actually knew about or should have known about.

A criminal act by someone else does not let the property off the hook. In Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, Inc. v. Wagner, 2020 CO 51, the Colorado Supreme Court allowed a premises claim to go forward over injuries caused by a third party’s violent crime, and it treated foreseeability as a question of fact for the jury rather than something a judge decides at the door. A property that already knew about threats, prior incidents, or a dangerous employee has a harder time calling the attack unforeseeable.

The deadline on a sexual misconduct claim may be gone. Under C.R.S. 13-80-103.7, as amended by Senate Bill 21-073, a civil action based on sexual misconduct may be commenced at any time, without limitation. That applies to claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and to earlier claims whose limitation period had not already run by that date. It also reaches claims against someone other than the perpetrator, which is what a claim against a hotel is. Older claims are a different story. In Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39 (June 20, 2023), the Colorado Supreme Court held that claims already time-barred before January 1, 2022 cannot be revived. So the honest answer depends on roughly when the assault happened. Tell us the year rather than assuming either way.

Trafficking claims have their own federal route. Under 18 U.S.C. 1595, a trafficking victim can sue the perpetrator and also anyone who knowingly benefits financially from participating in a venture that the person knew or should have known was engaged in trafficking. That language is what puts hotels and their management companies in these cases. The federal deadline is the later of ten years after the claim arose, or ten years after the victim turns 18 if the victim was a minor at the time.

Evidence that disappears while you are deciding

Hotels overwrite video on a schedule, and the window is often weeks, not months. Keycard entry logs, housekeeping assignments, shift schedules, work orders, and incident reports all live in systems that get purged or rolled over. A preservation letter sent early is sometimes the difference between a provable case and a swearing contest. That is a reason to call before you have all your questions answered, not after.

What to do now

Write down the hotel name, the exact property address, your room number, and the dates and times.
Keep your reservation, the folio, the confirmation email, and anything you were given at check-in.
Note the names or descriptions of any staff involved and anyone you spoke to afterward.
Photograph the door, the lock, the hallway, and any broken or propped entrance if you can do it safely.
Get medical care. Your health comes first, and the records matter later.
Talk to a lawyer before you give a recorded statement to the hotel, its brand, or an insurance adjuster, and before you sign anything.

What a claim can cover

Depending on the facts, a civil claim may seek compensation for counseling and medical treatment, lost income and lost earning capacity, travel and relocation costs, and the emotional harm the assault caused. In some cases Colorado law allows punitive damages where a defendant’s conduct was willful and wanton. No one can tell you what a case is worth without reading the file, and anyone who tries is guessing.

Why survivors call Greer Law Group

Marlo Greer built The Pink Advocate around a simple idea. Someone has to be willing to say out loud what an institution did, and to keep saying it after the other side’s lawyers start calling you difficult. She is a trial attorney, she speaks about this work nationally and internationally, and she does not treat a survivor like a file number.

You will talk to a lawyer. No intake script, no call center, and the conversation stays confidential.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sue a hotel if the person who assaulted me was an employee?
Yes, that is one of the most common versions of these cases. The claim looks at how the hotel screened that person, what access it gave them to occupied rooms, and whether anyone had complained about them before.

Do I have to report it to the police first?
No. A civil claim does not depend on a police report, an arrest, or a conviction. A report can help the case, and so can a criminal investigation, but neither is required.

What if the hotel is a franchise of a national brand?
The owner, the management company, and the brand are separate entities, and sorting out who controlled what is part of the work. In trafficking cases, federal law also reaches anyone who knowingly benefited from participating in the venture.

How long do I have to file?
For the sexual misconduct claim itself, Colorado law allows an action to be commenced at any time, without limitation, for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and for earlier claims that were not already time-barred on that date. Claims that had already expired before then stay barred. Federal trafficking claims run on a ten-year clock. Call and ask instead of guessing.

What will it cost me to talk to you?
Nothing. The consultation is free and confidential, and nothing happens in your case unless you decide to move forward.

Talk to Greer Law Group

Free and confidential. Nothing moves until you say so.

The Greer Law Group
2950 Brighton Blvd Suite 25, Denver, CO 80216
303-331-6460

This page is general information about Colorado and federal law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts.