Lt. Paula Coughlin, an admiral's aide and helicopter pilot in the United States Navy, sued the Hilton Hotel for failing to provide adequate security against the sexual harassment at the Tailhook Convention in 1993 in Las Vegas, a gathering of U.S. naval officers.
At that convention, after she exited from an elevator, she found herself in a crowd of men who grabbed at her breasts, crotch, and buttocks, and attempted to remove her clothes, despite her protests. Later, others were also found to have been subjectd to similar treatment. She sued after her boss, Admiral John W. Snyder, told her "That's what you get" when encountering "drunken aviators."
Coughlin also sued the Tailhook Association, which settled out of court with Coughlin for $400,000 and with six other women who had also filed suits.
The court held that the Hilton Hotel was guilty of negligence, in a decision on October 24, 1994. The award was initially $6.7 million, reduced later to $5.2 million.
The charges of sexual misconduct at the Tailhook Convention ended the careers of several Navy officers, and resulted in changes of policy within the U.S. military.
