A Longmont hotel is on the hook for more than $4 million after a Weld County jury found the hotel negligent in giving a room key to a man who entered the room and violently assaulted a mother and daughter.
The Econo Lodge, at 10811 Interstate 25 Frontage Road, was ordered to pay $4.05 million — $3 million for physical injuries suffered by the daughter, who was stabbed in the face, as well as $1.05 million for emotional distress and other “non-economic” damages suffered by both women, according to court records.
“This verdict stands as a powerful testament to the horrific pain the victims suffered as a result of the Econo Lodge’s negligence,” said attorney Matthew Haltzmann, who represented the mother and daughter. “We truly appreciate the jury listening intently to our case and returning a monumental verdict for the victims. The jury heard us loud and clear. Justice was finally served for our clients.”
The lawsuit — filed June 5, 2023 — accused the hotel of recklessly failing to ensure the safety of their guests, failing to follow safety policies such as restricting room access to guests and hiring unqualified individuals.
In January 2023, the mother and daughter invited 31-year-old Cody Czichos — who was dating the daughter — to the room to eat pizza and watch television. He began acting erratically and unpredictably, the women said, and the two asked him to leave.
The two women never told hotel employees that Czichso should have access to the room, nor did they give him a key card to get in, the complaint said. He was also neither a registered guest of the hotel, nor listed in reference to the room.
When he returned to the hotel — in the early morning hours of Jan. 4 — he approached the front desk, the complaint alleged. Both front desk employees told police that Czichos mentioned he took a lot of Xanax among making other “ominous statements,” the lawsuit said, but neither employee took any action.
After displaying intoxicated behavior in the hotel lobby for 45 minutes to an hour, the complaint alleged that Czichos requested a key card to the women’s room — which the employees issued without confirming he should have access to the room.
Czichos returned to the room and slapped one of the women before slicing the other woman face and hand as she tried to fight him off, records show.
A call to Econo Lodge’s listed representation, Baker Law Group, had gone unreturned, as of late-afternoon Monday.
Czichos is serving a 15-year sentence for the attack, after pleading guilty in April 2024 to attempted second-degree murder, third-degree assault and first-degree trespassing as part of a plea agreement, Colorado court records show.
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