R.Z. v. RK Hospitality, LLC, et al.

District Court, D. Colorado·Decided August 13, 2026·No. 1:25-cv-02568·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Judge William J. Martínez

Civil Action No. 25-cv-2568-WJM-MDB

R.Z.,

Plaintiff,

v.

RK Hospitality, LLC, et al.,

Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART WYNDHAM FRANCHISOR DEFENDANTS’ AND DEFENDANT RK HOSPITALITY’S MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND GRANTING DEFENDANT PATEL’S MOTION TO DISMISS

Before the Court is Defendants Days Inns Worldwide, Inc. and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc.’s (“Wyndham Franchisor Defendants’”) Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 53), Defendant Rileshkumar R. Patel d/b/a Days Inn’s (“Patel’s”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Cause of Action (ECF No. 67), and Defendant RK Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Travel Lodge by Wyndham’s (“RK Hospitality’s”) Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 112) (“Motions”). The Motions have been fully briefed and are ripe for decision. (ECF Nos. 75, 80, 81, 82, 113, 117.) For the following reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part the Wyndham Franchisor Defendants’ and RK Hospitality’s Motions and grants Defendant Patel’s Motion. I. BACKGROUND1 This lawsuit arises from Plaintiff’s allegations that she fell victim to a sex trafficking

1 The Background section is drawn from the Complaint. (ECF No. 1.) The Court assumes scheme operating out of various hotels in Colorado Springs in 2014 and 2015. (ECF No. 1 at ¶ 5 n.1). Plaintiff avers that, in the spring of 2014, she was homeless and checked into Value Inn & Suites (“Value Inn”). (Id. at ¶ 20.) There, she met a woman who invited Plaintiff to

visit her cottage near Value Inn after learning about Plaintiff’s financial struggles. (Id. at ¶¶ 21–23.) The woman introduced Plaintiff to B.S., who offered to help Plaintiff with her financial situation. (Id. at ¶¶ 24–26.) B.S. and Plaintiff agreed to an arrangement where she went on dates with men to earn money to get back on her feet. (Id. at ¶ 26.) Under this arrangement, “B.S. forced Plaintiff to live in a string of hotels, where he required her to sleep with multiple men a day in exchange for money.” (Id. at ¶ 31.) Plaintiff was not the only victim of B.S.’s operation. (See id. at ¶¶ 33, 106.) Plaintiff alleges that “B.S. would circulate his victims among different hotels each month.” (Id. at ¶ 58.) Plaintiff stayed at various hotels during this time, including Value

Inn, Days Inn by Wyndham (“Days Inn”), the Travel Lodge by Wyndham (“Travel Lodge”), and America’s Best Value Inn (“America’s Best”). (Id. at ¶¶ 64, 102, 133, 167.) At these hotels, B.S. simultaneously rented multiple room blocks. (Id. at ¶¶ 67, 71, 106, 137, 171, 173.) At the hotels, B.S. would be armed and standing guard outside of the rooms while on hotel property. (Id. at ¶¶ 109(b), 141(b).) He “was always armed with both a gun and blackjack or club.” (Id. at ¶ 30.) For each encounter, unregistered male visitors would enter Plaintiff’s and the other

the allegations in the Complaint to be true for the purpose of deciding the Motions. See Ridge at Red Hawk, L.L.C. v. Schneider, 493 F.3d 1174, 1177 (10th Cir. 2007). victims’ rooms one by one throughout the day “in full view of the hotel’s cameras.” (Id. at ¶¶ 109(f), 141(f).) For instance, at Travel Lodge, the visitors would walk past the front desk or through the hotel’s back door when it was left unlocked, doing so “in full view of the hotel’s cameras.” (Id. at ¶ 141(f).) B.S. often collected cash from his customers outside of

the victims’ rooms in the hotels’ hallways. (Id. at ¶¶ 109(c), 141(c).) Plaintiff, B.S., and those in his group stayed at the Days Inn for “a total of approximately 45 days during the period that Plaintiff was trafficked.” (Id. at ¶ 102.) The Days Inn was owned and operated by Patel and franchised by the Wyndham Franchisor Defendants. (ECF No. 1 at ¶ 103; ECF No. 53 at 3.) At the Days Inn, “on multiple occasions, B.S. arranged with the owner/manager of the hotel to have sex with Plaintiff.” (ECF No. 1 at ¶ 108.) “B.S. also forced his other victims to sleep with the owner/manager.” (Id.) Whenever Plaintiff was in the hotels’ public areas, she was “typically drugged and incapacitated,” and she and the other victims were often emaciated. (Id. at ¶ 109(g); see

id. at ¶¶ 109(d), 141(d).) Hotel staff who entered B.S.’s rooms “must have noticed . . . multiple used condoms and wrappers discarded in the trash, bodily fluids on the bedding and towels, and commercial sex and drug paraphernalia.” (Id. at ¶¶ 109(h), 141(h).) B.S. also had Plaintiff and his other victims stay at Travel Lodge, which was owned and operated by RK Hospitality and franchised by the Wyndham Franchisor Defendants. (Id. at ¶ 134; ECF No. 53 at 3; ECF No. 112 at 2.) At Travel Lodge, B.S. “frequently disciplined the sex trafficking victims on the hotel property and prevented them from leaving.” (Id. at ¶ 141(b).) In one instance at Travel Lodge, Plaintiff told B.S. she wanted to leave. (Id. at ¶ 139.) In response, he beat her, “g[iving] her a black eye and other visible bruises, and ordered her to isolate herself in her room for two weeks until she healed up.” (Id. at ¶ 139.) During these two weeks, Plaintiff refused housekeeping and only left her room once to ask for ice from the front desk to apply to her black eye and bruises. (Id. at ¶ 140.)

In August 2015 at America’s Best Value Inn, B.S. beat her again. (Id. at ¶ 175.) Plaintiff told B.S. that she was leaving. (Id.) He then punched her in the nose, sending her off her chair, and he continued beating her, and then strangled her to the point of unconsciousness. (Id. at ¶¶ 35, 175.) When Plaintiff awoke, B.S. had left the room. (Id. at ¶¶ 36, 176.) She tried to call 911 from her hotel room phone but the phone was not working. (Id. at ¶¶ 36, 176.) Plaintiff went to the hotel front desk and asked the two employees there to call 911. (Id. at ¶¶ 36, 176.) They refused, telling her they did not want to “interfere in [B.S.’s] business.” (Id. (alteration in original).) Plaintiff limped back to her room and hid in the closet for the night. (Id. at ¶¶ 37, 177.)

In the morning, Plaintiff went back to the front desk and, this time, a different employee called 911 on her behalf. (Id. at ¶¶ 38, 178.) After this incident, Plaintiff stayed in the hospital for three days. (Id. at ¶¶ 39, 179.) She stuttered for three months and underwent extensive speech therapy to recover. (Id. at ¶¶ 39, 179.) B.S. was eventually arrested and convicted. (Id. at ¶¶ 40, 180.) Ten years later, on August 15, 2025, Plaintiff filed her Complaint. (Id. at ¶ 1.) She makes six claims against Defendants. First, Plaintiff alleges Defendants violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (“TVPRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1581, et seq. (Count One). Second, she alleges Defendants violated the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (“FOSTA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2421A et seq., by “promoting or facilitating prostitution and . . . recklessly disregard[ing] sex trafficking of victims” (Count Two). Third, she asserts a state law claim against Defendants under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-127 (“Colorado Human Trafficking Statute”) (Count Three). Finally, she alleges

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R.Z. v. RK Hospitality, LLC, et al., (D. Colo. 2026).

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