A Capital Hotel valet has filed a lawsuit against a Canadian businessman, claiming the man injured the hotel worker and committed lewd acts during a “drunken escapade” at the hotel three years ago.
Michael Wekerle, co-founder and executive chairman of Canada-based Difference Capital Funding Inc., exhibited “atrocious and utterly intolerable” behavior that went “beyond the bounds of decency” during his visit to Little Rock on Oct. 22, 2010, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
Capital Hotel employee Brooks Jansen claims he was injured when the Canadian engaged in horseplay without the valet’s consent. Wekerle grabbed Jansen’s arm, twisted it and tugged on it as if he were about to flip Jansen over, causing injury to the valet’s shoulder and neck, the complaint said.
The complaint, filed by attorneys Bud Whetstone and James F. Swindoll, also states that Wekerle made lewd requests of Jansen, suggesting he do inappropriate sexual things to female guests who were nearby.
Wekerle went to the hotel with his entourage after a private flight and dropped his pants in the lobby no more than 10 minutes after arriving, the complaint noted.
During what the lawsuit calls a “drunken escapade,” Wekerle licked the bottom of a female guest’s shoe and foot, picked up an unsuspecting woman from outside and threw her on a couch in the lobby before climbing on top of her, and exposed himself to patrons in the hotel’s restaurant, according to a 10-page report from hotel security officers attached to the suit.
Little Rock police don’t have an arrest report on file for Wekerle, according to a department spokesman. The hotel security report states that hotel staff members called police once but canceled the call when Wekerle’s associates persuaded him to leave the hotel about 9 p.m. that day.
During his time at the hotel, Wekerle wrestled with a friend in a hotel hallway, showed up two hours late to a 6:15 p.m. dinner meeting with 20 Little Rock businessmen and offered beer to hotel employees, the complaint said.
Wekerle also threw money into the air around the lobby from a bag containing a reported $10,000 cash, the suit says.
He also blew a stadium horn repeatedly in the lobby, according to the hotel security report.
The security report notes that the guest services manager informed security staff members that Wekerle was a wealthy and important person from Canada. At the time he was the leader of a securities trading group - Institutional Trading at GMP Securities - and had been named one of the 25 most influential people in business by a Canadian magazine the year before.
When hotel security officer Michael Parnell approached Wekerle and told him to calm down, the businessman dismissed him, Parnell wrote in the security report.
“Mr. Wekerle interrupted and began to tell me how he had started his first business when he was 8 years old, what all he had accomplished, etc., etc.,” Parnell said. “I told Mr. Wekerle I was sure he was a very successful person, but that our owner was also a very successful person who expected his staff to enforce the rules of behavior at his hotel. Mr. Wekerle smirked, backed away, and waved his hand toward me in a dismissive manner.”
Wekerle later cursed at Parnell and refused to leave the hotel until Parnell threatened to call police, the report said.
A voice message left for Wekerle at his business Wednesday was not returned. Jansen is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and a jury trial.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/10/2013