CHICAGO
— ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, who was secretly videotaped nude while
staying at hotels, filed a lawsuit Thursday against seven hotels and the
suburban Chicago man who admitted making the tapes.
Andrews filed the suit in Cook County against the
hotels for negligence and invasion of privacy, about seven months after
Michael David Barrett, of Westmont, Ill., pleaded guilty in federal
court in Los Angeles to interstate stalking.
Andrews'
lawsuit alleges the hotels confirmed where Andrews was staying and gave
out her room number without her permission.
Andrews,
who was recently a contestant on the ABC show Dancing with the Stars,
is asking for more than $1.2 million from the hotels and Barrett for
"severe and permanent emotional distress," according to the complaint.
Barrett pleaded guilty in December to renting
hotel rooms next to Andrews in three cities, altering the peepholes and
shooting videos in two locations — in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008
and in Nashville, Tenn., seven months later. Prosecutors accused him of
contacting 14 hotels asking for Andrews' information.
He was accused of posting the videos online and
trying to sell them to Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ last
year.
Barrett was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in
prison in March.
Along with Barrett, the
complaint named Marriott International Inc.; West End Hotel Partners LLC
and Nashville Marriott At Vanderbilt University; Windsor Capital Group
Inc.; Radisson Hotels International Inc.; Ashtel Inc. and Radisson Hotel
Milwaukee Airport; Ohio State University and The Blackwell Inn; and
Preferred Hotel Group Inc. and Summit Hotels & Resorts.
Marriott, Windsor, Preferred, Ohio State and the
Nasville Marriott declined to comment. Ashtel and Radisson could not be
reached.
It was not immediately clear who
would be representing Barrett in the civil suit, and his defense
attorney from the federal prosecution did not immediately return a call
seeking comment Thursday night.
Andrews said
she hoped the lawsuit would force the hotels to be more vigilant when
they check in a guest.
"Although I'll never be
able to fully erase the impact that this invasion of privacy has had
upon me and my family, I do hope that my experience will cause the
hospitality industry to be more vigilant in protecting its guests from
the time they reserve a hotel room until they check out," she said in a
written statement.