The High Court is set to assess damages owed to a woman who claims she was raped by an employee of a hotel at which she was staying, after the alleged perpetrator and hotel failed to respond to her lawsuit against them.
The woman alleges she was raped by the employee at the hotel in Leinster.
The woman brought a civil action against the employee and the company behind the hotel over the alleged rape.
In the claim, she seeks damages over the employee’s alleged trespass of her person “to include sexual assault, rape, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional suffering”, and over the hotel’s alleged negligence, breach of duty and breach of contract.
In court documents, the woman says the hotel company was the controller of the hotel at the time of the alleged rape, and as such, was either directly or vicariously liable for the employee’s actions.
Neither the employee nor the hotel entered an appearance in the lawsuit against them. In High Court actions, a defendant must file an appearance within a set time period if they intend to defend the action.
On Monday, barrister Alannah McGurk, appearing for the woman instructed by Coleman Legal, asked Judge Paul Coffey to grant her client judgment against the employee, in circumstances where he had not entered an appearance.
Counsel said the employee had been served with the proceedings and had been issued with a warning letter following his failure to enter an appearance.
The court heard that the woman’s lawyers had already obtained judgment against the hotel company in default of appearance.
The judge granted judgment in favour of the woman against the employee.
Coffey said the case should be set down for trial before a judge for the purposes of assessing damages owed to the woman.