2-Oct-16 – Saying she had been advised “that an agreement has been reached between the parties,” United States District Judge Sharon Coleman has dismissed for 30 days the case of an Air India pilot against what is now Wyndham Grand Riverfront Hotel. Pankul Mathur says he was robbed there in 2013, when the 334-room Wacker Drive hotel was named Hotel 71, by a woman claiming she was a prostitute and that Mathur had hired her.

The 30 days started on August 23 and no documents have been filed since. Reached last Thursday by email, plaintiff attorney Sanjay Shivpuri declined to comment.

Mathur’s claim that he was robbed in his room by the woman, who turned out to be a man, does not appear to be in dispute by the hotel, the owner and manager of which Mathur was suing for negligence.

In Chicago on a layover before flying a Boeing 777 back to Delhi, Mathur says he was awakened by a loud banging on his door. When he opened the door, what he originally thought was a large African-American woman barged in and took $500 from his wallet next to the bed.

The “woman” was Andrew James, who was arrested a week later and more recently was on a list of potential witnesses in Mathur’s lawsuit.

Mathur also said that a housekeeper in the hallway outside his room that night ignored his pleas for help.

The housekeeper, Anthony Downs, wrote in a handwritten account of the incident that he did see a woman in Mathur’s room that night, through a door that was open briefly. He said the woman and Mathur were “having a loud discussion.” When the woman walked out of the room, she said to Mathur, according to Downs, “You called me here for prostitution and I just want my stuff.”

“I didn’t call you,” replied Mathur, who was “very irate” and asked Downs to call police.

“I politely informed the guest I have no radio (I was on my break at the time) and that he could go down to the front desk.”

(Left) Handwritten account of the incident by housekeeping employee Anthony Downs. (Click on image to view larger version.)

While Mathur and James rode down in one elevator, Downs took a service elevator to the basement level, where he tried unsuccessfully to find a member of the hotel’s security staff. When he returned to the lobby, he saw that Mathur was speaking with security at the front desk.

The case was getting closer to trial. Jury instructions were being negotiated while the discovery phase of the lawsuit continued.

In August, Mathur’s attorney complained to Judge Coleman that the defendants, Wyndham Hotel Management, Inc. and Hospitality Properties Trust, were withholding documents. The defendants objected to having to release some documents, such as information on insurance policies they said was confidential. They did agree to provide security video of the incident.