Horowitz Law Client Sues Fontainebleau Hotel For Sexual Assault in Spa

Horowitz Law has filed a sexual abuse lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court alleging sexual assault of a client in the spa of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The defendants in the lawsuit are Fontainebleau Florida Hotel, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company d/b/a Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel and Lapis Spa.

The lawsuit was filed after a massage therapist sexually assaulted a female client at the Lapis Spa inside the Fontainebleau Hotel at 4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140. Massage therapist Christopher Mankarious was arrested on April 28, 2021 on sexual battery charges. In September 2024, Mankarious plead guilty to felony battery. He was sentence to probation for 5 years and ordered to stay away from the victim.  Mankarious had been a licensed massage therapist in Florida since 2019 and surrendered his license to practice massage therapy in Florida in 2021. The Plaintiff in the lawsuit is represented by sexual abuse attorneys Adam Horowitz and DeeDee Scheller of Horowitz Law in Fort Lauderdale.

Allegations in the Complaint Against Lapis Spa at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel

In March of 2021, Plaintiff was a guest at the Fontainebleau Hotel with her family. She booked a 60-minute massage with Mankarious and changed into the robe provided. Plaintiff told Mankarious that she doesn’t get massages often and didn’t know if it was customary to fully undress. Mankarious reportedly told the Plaintiff to lie face down on the bed and that he would return shortly to start the massage. Mankarious moved the Plaintiff’s body in a manner that exposed her vagina, and then he penetrated her with his finger.  The initial police report states that Mankarious realized his client was upset and began to apologize repeatedly to diffuse the situation, and resumed the massage by placing his hands on the Plaintiff’s shoulders. Plaintiff wanted to stop the massage, and Mankarious left the room. She reported the incident to the spa and hotel staff, as well as the Miami Beach Police Department.

Police said Mankarious was questioned about the incident by a manager and stated, “My mind wasn’t clear. I misunderstood. I wasn’t in a clear state of mind.”  Detectives arrested Christopher Mankarious and charged him with sexual battery.  After initially invoking his right to remain silent, Mankarious reportedly volunteered that he grazed the victim’s vagina with his hand as he was massaging near her buttocks/thigh area.

The Violation Between a Massage Therapist and their Client

When clients schedule a massage, it is to decompress from the stresses of life. They trust that the massage therapists employed at the spa are carefully vetted and safe to engage with the public. It is unacceptable, immoral, and unlawful for any employee to touch a client in a sexual manner. Clients of massage therapists are placed in isolated, vulnerable settings where they can be subject to abuse by their massage therapists. Due to the potential for abuse that is inherent under those circumstances, massage therapists must possess good judgment and good moral character to practice massage therapy safely.

Mankarious’ violation of the massage therapist-patient relationship indicated that he lacked the good moral character and judgment necessary to practice massage therapy. According to the Department of Health, Mankarious willfully abused his position as a massage therapist by inappropriately touching and sexually violating clients who trusted him to act professionally and within the boundaries of generally accepted massage therapy and treatment. A Final Order of discipline was entered against Mankarious, and he surrendered his license to practice massage therapy in Florida, which was accepted and adjudged as a discipline on November 29, 2021, by the Board of Massage Therapy.

Attorney Adam Horowitz, who represents the victim in this case, said: “Massages are supposed to be a place for relaxation. It is an extraordinary breach of trust for any massage therapist to make unwanted sexual advances on a client who is seeking relaxation and the therapeutic benefits of massage.”

Counts 1 & 2: Negligent Hiring & Retention

Plaintiff sought massage and spa services from Defendant Fontainebleau Florida Hotel, LLC, and Lapis Spa, where she was treated by the abuser, Christopher Mankarious. Defendant owed a duty to Plaintiff to use reasonable care to ensure his safety, care, and well-being while obtaining spa services.

• Defendant failed to provide reasonable care and selection, assignment, and supervision of massage therapists and professionals, ensuring the safety of their patients.
• Defendant breached this duty by failing to exercise reasonable care to protect Plaintiff from sexual misconduct and lewd and lascivious acts committed by its agent, Mr. Mankarious.
• Defendant had an affirmative duty to exercise reasonable care to promote its patient’s best interests and to protect them from emotionally and sexually exploited conduct by their employees.
• Defendant knew or should have known that their employee Mankarious was unfit for the intimate duties assigned as a massage therapist and that he did not exhibit appropriate boundaries with female clients, had a history and/or temperament that rendered him unfit to be alone and in a position of trust with an unclothed female, was sexually inappropriate with clients, and/or posed a risk of perpetrating unwanted sexual contact.
• Defendant retained Mr. Mankarious as a massage therapist without any limitations on his employment and took no action to warn or otherwise protect any of his female clients.
• Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that Mr. Mankarious was unfit, dangerous, and/or a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of men entrusted to him for spa services.

Count 3: Negligent Supervision

Defendant owed a duty to Plaintiff to use reasonable care to ensure his safety, care, and well-being while he was obtaining spa services. These duties encompassed the supervision of massage therapists whom it employed, such as Mr. Mankarious.

• Defendant breached this duty by failing to exercise reasonable supervision and oversight to protect Plaintiff from sexual misconduct and lewd and lascivious acts committed by its agent, Mr. Mankarious.
• After hiring Mr. Mankarious but prior to the sexual misconduct perpetrated on Plaintiff, Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that Mr. Mankarious was unfit for the intimate duties assigned, did not exhibit appropriate boundaries with men, had a history and/or temperament that rendered him unfit to be alone and in a position of trust with an unclothed male, was sexually inappropriate with clients, and/or posed a risk of perpetrating unwanted sexual contact.
• Despite having such information, Defendant retained Mr. Mankarious as a massage therapist without any limitations on his employment, failed to provide adequate supervision and oversight of Mr. Baghdadi, and took no action to mitigate the risk of harm or otherwise protect any of his female clients.

Count 4: Negligent Policies & Protocols

Defendant owed a duty to Plaintiff to use reasonable care to ensure his safety, care, and well-being while he was obtaining spa services.

• Prior to Plaintiff’s massage appointment, Defendant knew that male massage therapists were committing sexual assault and/or engaging in sexual contact with male and female massage clients at extraordinary rates, and the high rate of sexual contact in the spa setting constitutes a dangerous condition of which its male and female clients, including Plaintiff, were unaware and which should have been disclosed by Defendant with instructions on how to prevent, be prepared for, and respond to such incidents.
• Defendant had a duty to implement reasonable policies and procedures to protect its guests, particularly with respect to a person employed on Defendant’s premises, who was placed in a position of control over a vulnerable guest and was in a position to do intentional harm to that guest.
• Defendant did not have reasonable policies and procedures in place to protect its guests from sexual misconduct by a person performing services at Lapis Spa at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel.
• Defendant failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that clients who received massages from male therapists were sufficiently warned of and protected from foreseeable harm and did not have adequate measures in place to deter foreseeable harm, such as panic/assistance buttons in the massage therapy rooms.
• Defendant breached its duty of care by failing to create, implement, and establish policies and procedures to properly train employees to ensure the proper and safe conduct of massage therapists.

Count 5: Respondeat Superior/ Vicarious Liability

Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, the Defendant, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel and Lapis Spa, is responsible for the actions of its servant committed in the actual or apparent scope of his duties.

• Mankarious was authorized and entrusted by Defendant to be alone with Plaintiff in a darkened room while Plaintiff was undressed and in a vulnerable position.
• The sexual contact occurred on a massage table, on-premises, operated and/or controlled by Defendant
• The sexual contact occurred during the normal business hours of Defendant and occurred in the course and scope of the performance of Mr. Mankarious’ duties.
• Mr. Mankarious was authorized to touch Plaintiff via skin-to-skin contact. The alleged wrongful acts of Mr. Mankarious were committed in the actual or apparent course and scope of his employment or agency with Lapis Spa when Mr. Mankarious extended and converted his authorized touching into sexual contact with Plaintiff.
• The massage services provided by Mr. Mankarious benefited Lapis Spa and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel.
• Mr. Mankarious was aided in accomplishing the alleged sexual act upon Plaintiff by the existence of his agency relationship with Lapis Spa. Specifically, Mr. Mankarious is accused of using the authority delegated to him by his employer to make sexual contact with Plaintiff while she was undressed and lying in a vulnerable position in a dark room, seeking relaxation.

Horowitz Law has filed numerous sexual assault lawsuits against massage therapists on behalf of clients who were inappropriately touched at massage spas and resorts. If you have been a victim of sexual assault or sexual battery during a massage, or if you know someone who has, please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or e-mail sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz today for a free consultation.