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发帖数: 1563 | 1 Los Angeles (CNN) -- Two former guests have sued the proprietors of Los
Angeles' Cecil Hotel, where a 21-year-old woman's corpse was found floating
in a rooftop water tank.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by Steven and
Gloria Cott. Deeming it a "class action," the complaint specifies it could
apply to "all persons similarly situated" -- meaning anyone who stayed at
the hotel between February 1 and 19 this year.
For as long as 19 days, Elisa Lam's decomposing body was in one of the hotel
's four cisterns while the Cotts and other guests below drank cups of water,
bathed and brushed their teeth.
How did woman's body come to be in L.A. hotel water tank?
Cecil Hotel's dark history
Photos: Body found in hotel water tank
A maintenance worker, checking on complaints about the hotel's water, found
the young Canadian tourist on February 19, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Rudy
Lopez said.
The lawsuit claims the hotel effectively contracted with its guests to
provide water "fit for human ingestion and human consumption through
showering" -- an obligation that the Cotts allege the hotel did not meet.
"Instead, the defendants provided water that had been contaminated by human
remains and was not fit for human ingestion or to use to wash," the lawsuit
states, claiming the Cotts believe that water was "tainted."
The Los Angeles Public Health Department immediately tested the water supply
, but told the manager they could stay open as long as they provided bottle
water and warned guests not to drink the tap water.
The results of the testing showed no harmful bacteria in the tank or the
pipes, according to Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health for the
department. Chlorine in the city's water may be the reason it is safe, he
said last week.
The hotel did not immediately respond Thursday to a CNN request for comment.
Hotel with corpse in water tank has notorious past
New guests continued to check into the Cecil in the hours after firefighters
removed Lam's body from the water tank. But each guest was asked to sign a
waiver releasing the hotel from liability if they become ill.
"You do so at your own risk and peril," the hotel's release said.
Guests who already paid for their rooms would not get refunds if they moved
out, it said.
In their lawsuits, the Cotts ask for a refund of the $150 total they paid to
stay two nights -- checking in February 12 and checking out February 14 --
at the Cecil Hotel.
They also are seeking medical costs of approximately $100 and possibly more,
if needed; court and attorney fees; and any "further relief as this court
may deem just and proper."
Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel on January 26, on her way to Santa Cruz,
California, according to police in her hometown of Vancouver, British
Columbia.
Five days later, she was seen on a security camera video walking into the
elevator, pushing the buttons for four floors and then peering out of the
opened elevator door as if she is hiding or looking for someone.
Clad in a red hoodie, Lam at one point walks out of the elevator before
returning to it, pushing the buttons again. She then stands outside the open
elevator doorway, motioning with her hands, before apparently walking away.
It was the last day Lam was seen.
Authorities still have not officially determined how she died.
Los Angeles robbery-homicide detectives are treating this as a suspicious
death for obvious reasons, since falling into a covered water tank behind a
locked door on top of a roof would be an unusual accident, said Los Angeles
Police Sgt. Rudy Lopez.
An autopsy has been completed, but the cause of death is deferred pending
further examination, assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said last week. That
may take six to eight weeks.
Any marks, injuries or wounds may suggest Lam died elsewhere and was dumped
into the tank by her killer.
Water in Lam's lungs could be a sign that she drowned, but it might not tell
why she was inside the small tank. |
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