A New Jersey couple is seeking $30 million from Sandals
Resorts International in a lawsuit alleging that their 2016 destination wedding
at the Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau was marred by an incident of sexual
assault involving a Sandals employee.
Ashley Reid Pascarella and Jeffrey T. Pascarella filed the
claim in Manhattan Supreme Court last month, claiming that Sandals' "negligent,
deficient and careless" hiring practices ruined the couple's wedding and
inflicted lasting psychological damage.
The Pascarellas booked their wedding package at the Sandals
Royal Bahamian for April 2016. In addition to a wedding ceremony and
celebrations for approximately 70 guests, the package promised various extras,
including a personal wedding butler service.
According to the
complaint, Ashley Reid Pascarella was assaulted in her room the evening before
her wedding by Moral Adderley, the Sandals employee assigned to serve as the
couple's personal butler. Adderley was subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty
to indecent assault.
"Sandals promised a memorable wedding package ... not,
as it turned out, a nightmarish, tear-streaked recollection of a haunting
middle-of-the-night sexual attack," the couple's attorney, John Nicholas
Iannuzzi, wrote in the lawsuit. "Sandals specifically breached the essence
and spirit of their promises."
In a statement, a Sandals spokesperson said that the company
is dedicated to "the safety and experience of all our guests, [and] we
take this type of allegation very seriously."
The spokesperson
added, however, that the Pascarellas' lawsuit "presents a self-serving,
one-sided and incomplete version of an incident reported in 2016," and
that "the plaintiffs have unfortunately embarked to influence the case
using a choreographed media campaign based on their one-sided narrative."
Sandals said that it hosts more than 10,000 weddings across
its 24 resorts each year.