Thursday, April 4, the national network of Motel 6 agreed to pay $12 million for the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the state of Washington.
According to state attorney General, Bob Ferguson, a chain of motels provided information about the guests with Latin names to the immigration authorities of the United States.
«Motel 6 was responsible for the illegal transfer of personal information of guests without a warrant. Their actions have separated families, and violated the right to inviolability of private life», — the statement says Ferguson.
The company said in the email that will now apply the policy privacy of the guests, which prohibits the exchange of information about the guests except in cases where there is a court order.
«The safety of our guests, including protection of information about guests is our top priority and we are pleased that we were able to reach agreement on this issue,» the company said.
The agreement applies to all motels network in the country.
The first Motel 6 in California. Source: Wikimedia
Earlier, in a separate lawsuit filed in Arizona in November of 2018, the company agreed to pay $7.6 million guests from Latin America, personal information which the staff shared with ICE.
According to the Prosecutor, only in Washington state from 2015 to 2017, Motel 6 has provided ICE information about 80 thousands guests.
Ferguson filed a lawsuit in the Supreme court in king County last year, claiming that the disclosure violated state law on protection of consumer rights and the law against discrimination.
Now the company also needs to create an online tool for guests so that they can report incidents when, in their opinion, the Motel have shared their personal information.
