v.
Holistic Health Healing, Inc.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT MYERS DIVISION
S. Y., Plaintiff, v. Case No: 2:20-cv-604-JES-MRM
HOLISTIC HEALTH HEALING, INC., Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER This matter comes before the Court on review of defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, Motion to Strike, or For a More Definite Statement and Memorandum of Law in Support Thereof (Doc. #10), filed on September 28, 202. Plaintiff filed an Opposition (Doc. #20) on November 2, 2020. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is denied. I. The origins of this case began on October 30, 2019, when plaintiff and another alleged victim of sex trafficking filed a case in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in and for Collier County, Florida. See S.Y. et al v. Naples Hotel Co. et al, Case No. 2:20-cv-118 (Doc. #1, p. 3). On December 31, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint which asserted ten claims against over forty defendants. Id. at (Doc. #1, pp. 2-4). The case was removed to federal court in February 2020. Id. at (Doc. #1). On April 15, 2020, the plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Complaint. Id. at (Doc. #85). On August 5, 2020, the
undersigned denied various motions to dismiss, but determined severance of the parties was appropriate. S.Y. v. Naples Hotel Co., 476 F. Supp. 3d 1251, 1258-59 (M.D. Fla. 2020). Following the Court’s severance order, plaintiff and the other alleged victim filed nearly thirty new actions against various defendants, including this case.
[*1]The Complaint (Doc. #1) in this case was filed on August 19, 2020, and alleges that plaintiff S.Y., a resident of Collier County, Florida, was a victim of continuous sex trafficking at the Conty’s Motel in Naples, Florida between 2013 and February 2016. (Id. ¶¶ 2, 13, 22-24.) The Complaint alleges that during this time period the Conty’s Motel was owned and operated by defendant Holistic Health Healing, Inc. (Id. ¶ 2.) The Complaint alleges the following six claims: (1) violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), 18 U.S.C. § 1595; (2) violation of the Florida RICO statute, § 772.104, Florida Statutes; (3) premise liability; (4) negligent hiring, supervision, and retention; (5) negligent Cir. 2013) (quoting Lugo v. State, 845 So. 2d 74, 97 (Fla. 2003)). Defendant argues plaintiff has insufficiently pled the enterprise element of her claim. (Doc. #10, pp. 7-10.) Florida’s in the Complaint, the Court agrees with plaintiff. The Complaint alleges defendant “was on notice of repeated incidents of sex trafficking occurring on its hotel premises,” and yet “failed to take the necessary actions to prevent sex trafficking from taking place.” (Doc. #1, ¶ 44.) The Complaint also alleges numerous ways in which defendant could have identified and prevented the sex trafficking from occurring. (Id. ¶¶ 46-61.) Finally, the Complaint alleges the “acts and omissions of [defendant] served to support, facilitate, harbor, and otherwise further the traffickers’ sale and victimization” of plaintiff “for commercial sexual exploitation by repeatedly renting rooms to people they [sic] knew or should have known were engaged in sex trafficking.” (Id. ¶ 105.) “[B]y knowingly, or with reckless
[*3][*4]disregard, repeatedly allowing sex trafficking to occur on its premises between 2013 and 2016,” defendant’s “acts have yielded defendant’s request for dismissal based on the doctrine is denied.
[*5]5 Defendant also suggests hotels only have a limited duty to render aid to a guest it knew or should have known was ill or injured, and that the Complaint contains no plausible facts to suggest defendant knew plaintiff was in need of aid. (Doc. #10, p. 18.) However, the Court finds the Complaint contains sufficient (5) Aiding and Abetting, Harboring, Confining, Coercion and Criminal Enterprise Finally, Count Six of the Complaint asserts a claim of aiding
and abetting against defendant. (Doc. #1, p. 39.) The Complaint accuses defendant of “aiding and abetting unlawful activity including unlawful confinement, imprisonment, assault and battery by [plaintiff’s] sex traffickers and ‘Johns.’” (Id. ¶ 202.) Defendant argues the claim must be dismissed because (1) it asserts defendant “aided and abetted the criminal act of sex trafficking in violation of the TVPRA,” and (2) the TVPRA does not provide a cause of action for aiding and abetting. (Doc. #10, p. 19.) Having reviewed the allegations in the Complaint and the relevant case law, the Court finds defendant is misinterpreting the claim. Florida courts have recognized aiding and abetting the commission of a tort as a standalone claim. See Gilison v. Flagler
Bank, 303 So. 3d 999, 1002 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020) (aiding and abetting fraud); MP, LLC v. Sterling Holding, LLC, 231 So. 3d 517, 527 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017) (aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty). This Court has previously listed the following elements that must be alleged “to state a claim for aiding and abetting a common law tort” under Florida law: “(1) an underlying violation on the part
allegations to satisfy this requirement. (Doc. #1, ¶¶ 84, 85, 197.) of the primary wrongdoer; (2) knowledge of the underlying violation by the alleged aider and abetter [sic]; and (3) the rendering of substantial assistance in committing the wrongdoing by the alleged
aider and abettor.” Angell v. Allergan Sales, LLC, 2019 WL 3958262, *8 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 22, 2019); see also Lawrence v. Bank of Am., N.A., 455 Fed. App’x 904, 906 (11th Cir. 2012) (applying the above elements to three Florida tort claims). These cases demonstrate Florida recognizes a common-law claim of aiding and abetting tortious conduct. Here, the Complaint alleges defendant aided and abetted plaintiff’s unlawful harboring, confinement, imprisonment, assault and battery, and to the extent the claim alleges defendant has 6 actual knowledge , the Court finds it sufficient to state a claim. Accordingly, the Court denies defendant’s request for dismissal. C. More Definite Statement Finally, defendant asserts that the Complaint is vague, ambiguous, and fails to provide sufficient information to allow it to formulate a response. (Doc. #10, pp. 19-20.) Defendant requests the Court exercise its discretion and order plaintiff