A woman is suing a Massage Envy parlor in Fort Worth, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a therapist during a full-body massage.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in a Tarrant County district court by Houston-based law firm Blizzard Greenberg, PLLC.
Defendants named in the lawsuit include Massage Envy, its parent company Knead for Health Alliance, and the massage therapist who allegedly sexually assaulted the woman, referred to as “John Doe.”
On Feb. 3, the woman, referred to as “A.C.” in the suit, went to the Massage Envy located at 3100 Texas Sage Trail in Alliance Town Center, where she was escorted to a therapy room and was left to undress.
When she lay down on her stomach on the massage table, the therapist came back into the room, turned A.C. over onto her back and made an obscene comment, the lawsuit alleges.
The woman was confused by the comment but “tried to brush it off,” the suit states.
The therapist began massaging the woman and she fell asleep, she said. She woke up to the employee touching her breasts and told him to stop, saying she “did not like that,” according to the suit. The therapist stopped and turned the woman back over to her stomach, she said.
The suit alleges that while massaging her arms, neck and back, the therapist told the woman that he does at-home appointments with clients to show significant others how to correctly massage each other. The woman said she felt uncomfortable and did not know what to say or do in response.
The therapist then began massaging her buttocks with the sheet taken off and she again told him to stop, stating she was not comfortable, the lawsuit states.
He allegedly continued to massage her, touched her upper thighs and attempted to pull her legs apart. At that point, the woman told him to stop and ended the appointment, she said.
Two days later, the woman contacted the Massage Envy and police to report the assault, according to the suit. As a result of the assault, she has suffered severe mental anguish, emotional distress and trauma, the suit says.
Massage Envy has not responded to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment.
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According to the law firm representing the woman, Massage Envy is part of a “national problem” and it has a history of its employees committing sexual assault.
The suit cites an investigative report by Buzzfeed in 2017, which found that 180 people had filed sexual assault lawsuits, police reports and complaints against Massage Envy spas, employees and the national company.
“This number is likely the tip of the iceberg, as only a fraction of sexual assault victims report being assaulted,” the suit says.
In multiple cases, victims learned that other women had previously reported a massage therapist to the company for sexual misconduct, but Massage Envy continued to “employ the predatory massage therapists,” ignored allegations, or transferred employees to other locations, according to the suit.
Massage Envy conducts training on how to comply with policies and procedures including the prevention, investigation, reporting and handling of sexual assault allegations, the suit states. The company also supervises franchises through inspections to ensure employees are complying with policies, the plaintiff’s attorneys said.
The suit alleges the franchises “have no discretion” in how they operate the business. It further states that Massage Envy “fosters an environment of secrecy that puts the company’s image ahead of the needs of victims and the safety of future clients.”
Specifically, Massage Envy does not require franchises to report allegations of sexual assault to law enforcement or state regulatory boards, the attorneys said. Instead, according to the suit, the company initiates its own internal investigations of sexual misconduct.
An operations director who oversaw more than a dozen Massage Envy spas from 2010 to 2016 says the internal investigation is not in place to protect the client, according to the suit.
“It’s in place to protect the company. It’s centered around defusing the situation, so the client doesn’t call the police. You don’t want cop cars showing up at your location the next day,” the former operations director said.
This was also seen in at least one risk management training, when Massage Envy told its franchises that the goal is “to avoid police and keep membership” when sexual assault claims are investigated, the suit alleges.
“Massage Envy formulated policies and trained its franchisees to deter women from reporting their assaults to law enforcement and/or state massage therapy boards in order to protect the brand and help ensure profits were not adversely affected,” the suit says. “The company’s internal investigation process, which includes a credibility assessment of the victim by untrained franchise managers, often leads to continued employment of predators who go on to assault multiple women.”
The suit adds that Massage Envy failed to formulate adequate policies for hiring, training, supervising, disciplining, investigating and retaining massage therapists. The company also failed to create a safe environment for clients and enforce a zero-tolerance policy related to inappropriate behavior, the suit alleges.
The woman is seeking monetary damages including past and future mental anguish, loss of earning capacity and medical expenses.
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