The first case ever where a hotel was held liable for subjecting young children to unblocked pornography on television
JURY AWARDS $85,000 AGAINST HOTEL FOR
SUBJECTING FAMILY TO PORNOGRAPHY
Dateline: October 12, 2007 ... Norwalk, CA
NORWALK, CA - October 12, 2007 - Edwina McCombs, a Tennessee resident,
who was visiting Southern California to vacation with her 8 and 9 year
old daughters, was awarded $85,000 today when a jury found Value
Lodge, an Artesia motel, liable for involuntarily subjecting her girls
to hard-core pornographic movies. The trial lasted two weeks.
Ms. McCombs checked into the Value
Lodge where she informed the front desk that she was there with her
two young daughters. When she was in the room, Ms. McCombs went to
take a bath and the children turned on the television to watch a
children’s show. Instead, the children were subjected to hard-core
pornography with close-up images of people engaged in sodomy and
homosexual acts. Leejanice Toback, an attorney for McCombs, stated
that this is the first such verdict against a hotel or motel
for showing pornography.
During the
trial, the plaintiffs presented testimony from hotel expert Alan
Snyder, who commented that in his thirty years experience, he has
never seen a family hotel where some affirmative action was not
necessary in order to access adult material. Although the motel
claimed that there were signs warning the patrons that the adult
channel could be turned off by the front desk, interviews with the
jury indicated that no one believed it.
The plainitiffs also called
Dr. Michael Perrotti, who extensively tested the children and
described the harm that exposure to pornographic images have on young
children. Dr. Perrotti stated that a child’s mind is like a hard drive
on a computer and the images once implanted, are difficult to remove.
The girl’s parents and attorney Leejanice Toback is thrilled with the verdict and the message it sends.
14 YEAR OLD CHILD PLACED IN RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTER SECLUDED AND RESTRAINED IN HIS OWN BLOOD
BILLINGS, MT - October 22, 2007 - Jeremy Ellis, a 14 year old Laguna Beach special education student who is currently placed at Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, a therapeutic treatment center located in Billings, Montana, claims the facility abused him. In a letter to his attorney, Leejanice Toback, Jeremy described how doors were slammed into his face and he has been put in seclusion or restraints, lying in a puddle of his own blood.
In the letter, Jeremy described how a staff member slammed doors in his face twice, causing his face to bleed and how he has regularly been put in seclusion and/or restraints for over one (1) hour, denied
medical attention and given nothing to stop the bleeding. In addition Jeremy reports how he has been punched and kicked by a particular male staff member. He has told his mother that his
therapist regularly refers to him and other children as "morons." Jeremy was referred to Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch by Orange County Mental Health Services. Jeremy's attorney, Leejanice Toback, originally requested a placement at Villa Santa Maria in New Mexico, but Orange County Mental Health Services refused, stating that the facility was not on their agency's approved list.
After receiving Jeremy's letter, Ms. Toback phoned Yellowstone's C.E.O. Glenn McFarlane. He refused Ms. Toback's demand to report the incident to the Montana Child Protective Services Agency. Mr.
McFarlane told Ms. Toback that Yellowstone would do its own investigation. He stated that, "if we reported all these complaints, we would spend all our time reporting incidents to Child Protective
Services." Dave Schwarm, the Quality Improvement Specialist from Yellowstone confirmed to Ms. Toback that in the last month there were at least three (3) child abuse allegations made. He stated that
according to his records, Jeremy is self abusing. When asked about evidence to support that claim, he hung up.
"Parents place their special education children in these facilities for the purpose of treatment and structure, not so that they can be brutalized. We treat prisoners better than this", Ms. Toback stated.
"The full color brochures and videos that these places prepare don't have pictures of kids secluded in stark rooms with no pictures, toys, books or music or restrained by adults three times their size."