Woman sues Lani Kai for sexual assault she says happened to her on property in March

A woman has filed a lawsuit against Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach after she says she was sexually assaulted on its property in March and claims the lack of security contributed to it.

This comes a day after a Lani Kai consultant met with Fort Myers Beach Town Council to discuss the amount of times deputies go there. The consultant argued the number of calls sending deputies to the property are not as bad as council believed.

The woman’s lawyer, attorney Terry Cramer, wants to see more cameras and better lighting at Lani Kai and more control over who can access the property. He also wants to see even more security and training. He says if all that had been in place in March, his client would not have been sexually assaulted and battered on the Lani Kai’s property.

“What you will see with Lani Kai is that they have an abnormal number of calls of service to law enforcement,” Cramer said. “And what is the concerning factor is the majority of them are concerned with violent crimes.”

Cramer’s client is one of the victims of those violent crimes. He says the victim was sexually assaulted and battered by one or two men she did not know.

A report filed with Lee County Sheriff’s Office says it happened in a seating area near the edge of the Lani Lai’s property March 10.

“We believe that this wouldn’t have happened except for the fact that they didn’t have certain security measures in place to either prevent this from happening or if it was happening to stop it from happening,” Cramer said.

So Cramer’s client is suing the hotel for more than $30,000. Cramer wants safety measures at Lani Kai to be increased.

“Whether it’s a bodies of security guards or it’s cameras, you have to be able to cover your property,” Cramer said. “And if you can’t, you’re going to have situations like this, and they’re going to keep occurring.”

We reached out to the Lani Kai, and it told us the hotel has not been served with anything regarding the lawsuit, so it does not have a comment at this time.

Cramer told us me the hotel should be served sometime in the coming weeks.

No arrests have been made in the sexual assault case.