DEKALB COUNTY, GA — Two women were awarded more than $13M after being sexually assaulted at a massage spa in Atlanta in 2021.
A DeKalb County jury included $4M in punitive damages against Ponce’s Feetspa and its owner, who knowingly hired an untrained, unlicensed masseur.
“This was not a massage, but this was now an attempt to molest.”
Attorney Mawuli Davis says the second sexual groping victim was on the table hours after the first one.
“She had booked her massage with him, even though she knew he had a complaint about inappropriately touching of a woman the night before.”
Davis continued to say, “this was about profit over people and profit over public safety. She did whatever she needed to do to make her money.”
The man was never charged in Atlanta, but was arrested a year later after assaulting someone else in a DeKalb spa.
Davis says the women feel affirmed by this verdict.
“They were empowered when they took the stand. They just spoke their truth. And I think it’s a part of healing.”