On this Memorial Day weekend, rethinking ever visiting any spa again…

A recent case out of New York, Leakey v. The Setai Group LLC, 151298/2014, concerns a tragic event. The plaintiff, Leakey, was allegedly sexually assaulted during a massage.

Leakey sued several entities, including the owners and operators of the spa, on theories of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract. The negligence claims failed because the massage therapist acted outside of the scope of his employment in sexually assaulting Leakey and there was no evidence the spa operators knew of any propensity by the therapist for inappropriate sexual conduct (this also doomed the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim). As for the breach of contract claim, there was no promise that the spa or its employees would be safe, so there was nothing to breach. 

(You can read the complaint in the case here.)