BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) - A jury has awarded $6.6M to a Haverhill woman who was sexually assaulted in a parking garage.
Kira Wahlstrom says she was exiting an elevator at the Radisson Hotel parking garage in 2009 when she was sexually assaulted.
Her suit alleges that JPA, which owned the hotel and parking garage, and LAZ parking, were negligent in protecting her. The suit also says another woman had been raped in the same garage by the same man 12 days earlier. JPA's attorney says Boston police told hotel personnel not to publicize the first rape to protect their investigation.
This civil case has the potential for national implications about the risks people assume when entering parking garages. Tickets often have language on the back that says companies are not liable for what happens inside.
The suit was seeking between $7 and $10 million in damages. Wahlstrom and her attorney hope this will be a landmark ruling and will change the amount of security guards, cameras and checkpoints in parking garages.
Wahlstrom said, "It was about helping people and maybe changing the way that people run their parking garages and the way they treat rape victims and, hopefully, more men and women will speak out when things like this happen."
FOX25 tried to speak with attorneys for JPA Management Company outside of court but they avoided us and did not return voice messages.
Another defendant in the suit, Laz Parking, was found not responsible by jurors, they had maintained that they were only responsible for the financial and marketing matters of the garage, and not the security.
Wahlstrom’s rapist pleaded guilty at the onset of the criminal trial and is serving a 15-year sentence.
Cox Media Group
