Resort liable for missing college students disappearance? Legal experts weigh in

WASHINGTON (TNND) — As rescue crews continue searching for missing college student Sudiksha Konanki, legal experts say the fight over her disappearance at a Dominican Republic resort could come down to who was reckless.

Madeline Summerville, an attorney based out of Georgia tells us, there are a couple of ways the resort would be held liable. For starters, if its policies and procedures were ignored.

A security guard should have been on the beach at the time or there should have been signage or flags that would have indicated to the young lady that it wasn’t safe to go out at the time,” Summerville said.

According to law enforcement, Konanki was last seen on surveillance footage in the early morning hours of March 6th. She was entering the beach during a red flag warning at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana after being seen drinking. She then reportedly went in the water. A series of events Summerville believes could be a big factor.

“Most of the time it doesn’t, if you’re intoxicated or not, you’re still responsible for the actions you’ve taken,” said Summerville.

Marc Clauson, a legal expert at Cedarville University tells us, that prosecutors outside of the U.S. tend to be aggressive and could try for recklessness as a criminal charge. However, he has trouble seeing it as a legitimate case.

“It’s hard to see what the resort could have done to show a higher level of care for her and not be considered reckless,” Clauson said.

Some are linking a power outage just hours before Konanki’s disappearance to the case, but Clauson believes regardless, finding the resort liable will be hard to prove.

“Are they supposed to put up lights now not just signs? But lights everywhere. So there are things that a resort is just not expected to do,” said Clauson.

A lawyer in the Dominican Republic tells Fox News Digital, he does not think the resort will be held liable. However that could change if the guests prove the hotel or employees did act recklessly.

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