Judge dismisses lawsuit over reported semen-contaminated water at Ritz-Carlton

(CN) — A federal judge granted summary judgment to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Marriott International on Monday, dismissing a lawsuit filed by a Washington state couple who claimed a hotel employee contaminated their drinking water with semen.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín dismissed the case after finding the anonymous plaintiffs lacked sufficient evidence to support claims of negligence, sexual battery, emotional distress and loss of consortium.

The claims stemmed from a four-night birthday stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay in November 2022. The woman said she requested water from the front desk, and an employee delivered hotel-branded bottles. After drinking from one, she noticed something was wrong.

The couple contacted hotel management and the police, claiming that the Ritz-Carlton had tested the bottle, confirmed contamination, but refused to share the results with their doctors. In court, they argued that only hotel staff had access to the bottles and cited res ipsa loquitur , a legal doctrine that allows negligence to be inferred when injuries occur under circumstances that ordinarily wouldn’t happen without someone’s negligence.

But Martínez-Olguín ruled their testimony inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 602, which requires witnesses to have direct knowledge of what they testify to.

“Plaintiffs have offered nothing to establish that either plaintiff had personal knowledge of this purported fact,” she wrote. “Without more, these statements constitute ‘mere allegation and speculation’ and do not give rise to a genuine dispute.”

Martínez-Olguín was also critical of the plaintiffs’ res ipsa loquitur argument, which required them to prove the water bottle was under the defendants’ exclusive control.

“Absent here is any evidence that the instrumentality at issue — the water bottle — was in the defendants’ exclusive control,” she said.

Her final assessment stated: “The remarkable lack of evidence advanced by plaintiffs compels the court to find there is no genuine dispute as to whether the person who contaminated the water bottle was a Ritz-Carlton employee.”

The couple, longtime Marriott patrons with over 600 nights at its properties, declined a compensation offer of rewards points, saying they didn’t want “another anxiety-inducing stay at a Ritz-Carlton.”

The woman feared contracting STIs from the contaminated water, while her husband struggled with feelings of failure to protect her. Court filings described how the incident strained their relationship and intimacy.

Ultimately, the court reiterated that speculation and unsupported claims can’t replace admissible evidence in proving key facts.

“Defendants are thus entitled to summary judgment under Rule 56 and their motion is granted,” Martínez-Olguín said, effectively closing the case unless the plaintiffs appeal.

The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay is located at 1 Miramontes Point Road, near the Bay Area.

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