ESPN's Erin Andrews Files $10 Million Lawsuit Against Hotel, Stalker
ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has filed a new $10 million lawsuit against the man who videotaped her nude through the peephole of her Nashville hotel room back in 2008.
Andrews is seeking $6 million from the Nashville Marriott hotel and $4 million from Michael Bartlett, the man who was convicted of stalking the reporter and sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison in 2010.
Bartlett followed Andrews to at least three different cities and filmed her through the peepholes of a number of hotel rooms, though authorities believe most were filmed at the Nashville hotel, where Andrews was staying to cover a football game.
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The suit alleges that the hotel was negligent by letting Bartlett know that Andrews was staying there as well as giving out her room number, in addition to allowing him to book a room right next to hers. It also states the Marriott was negligent by failing to notice that the peephole of Andrews' door had been altered, allowing Bartlett to film her.
At his hearing, the ESPN reporter said she still experiences fear and anxiety over the incident, and that she feels she will always be victimized because the footage will always be on the Web.
"I'm being victimized every day...and I did nothing to deserve it," Andrews said.
A Marriott spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit but told The Tennessean that it has since changed its policies, saying that guest registration procedures have been updated to ensure privacy.
Andrews initially filed suits with the same allegations in 2010, which named the other two hotels as defendants, but had to re-file the case due to "a problem consolidating all the defendants under a single jurisdiction," according to Deadspin.
Andrews' attorney, Mary A. Parker, told the publication, "The original case was non-suited to try to get all of the cases in the various states joined together under the jurisdiction of one court, which has not been able to be resolved. Our year for re-filing was about to run, so we re-filed, but only against the entities that are clearly jurisdictional in Tennessee."
