Risk Management Lessons from the Diddy Trial

I’ve been keeping up with the Diddy trial for the last few weeks, and while criminal trials are not my area of expertise, the testimony so far has brought forth some interesting topics that will likely come up in future civil trials.

And where there are civil trials, you usually find insurance.

During her testimony, Cassie Ventura mentioned that she is expecting a $10M settlement from Intercontinental Hotels.

Why did the hotel pay a settlement to Ventura? How were they liable?

Let’s break it down:

Organizations typically have a Duty of Care to provide a safe environment for patrons. For Intercontinental Hotels, this includes security, and reasonable steps to prevent and respond to criminal acts.

Trial testimony from hotel security guard, Isreal Flores, revealed that after he witnessed the assault, he asked Ventura if she wanted to call the police. She declined. He then proceeded to write an incident report, omitting key details from the incident. He then took video surveillance footage of the attack with his cell phone and showed it to other hotel employees.

None of them called the police either.

Risk Management Takeaway:

Train your staff on how to respond to assaults. They should not be asking the victim if the police should be called. They should contact police who will then determine if the victim wants to press charges.

In California, we have a legal requirement to train employees on workplace violence procedures and how to respond. Even if your state does not require a workplace violence prevention plan, it is a good idea to have one, particularly for certain industries, like bars, restaurants, hotels and hospitals.

Lastly, if you have video surveillance as a security measure, make sure you have a policy in place that outlines who has access to footage, when and how footage is released, how footage of incidents will be stored and preserved and rules against sharing footage with unauthorized users.

Interested in more insurance and risk management lessons from the Diddy trial? I have a four-part video series launching this week on LinkedIn.