A growing number of women are now suing Massage Envy (a national massage therapy chain) alleging that they were sexually assaulted by company employees during their massage. The lawsuits began getting filed several years ago and are now being filed across the country.
Our national sex abuse lawyers are currently seeking Massage Envy sexual assault cases. If you were sexually abused or touched inappropriately during a massage session at a Massage Envy location, contact us today for free case evaluation online or call 800-553-8082.
Massage Envy Lawsuit News & Updates
Below are massage sexual assault updates that involve Massage Envy massage therapists:
January 2025: A former masseuse at a Massage Envy in Houston, Texas is suing the company claiming that it put her at risk by hiring a male masseuse with a long track record of sexual misconduct. The plaintiff claims that the male masseuse sexually assaulted her during a massage and that he never should have been hired given his record.
December 2024: Our law firm is reviewing cases all over the country and we get a lot of calls for masseur sexual assault claims, not just from Massage Envy but other massage therapist facilities. Our lawyers unfortunately turn down a lot of cases because of the statute of limitations. You hear a lot about states extending the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases. This is true but most of those new deadlines to file a sexual assault lawsuit are for children only. If you do not know if you still have a claim, you can reach out and ask us and we will tell you. Make clear that you fear you missed the deadline to file and want to know what it is.
November 2024: A Massage Envy franchise in the Houston area paid $1 million, the maximum insurance policy limit, to settle a lawsuit with two women who alleged they were sexually assaulted by a male massage therapist during their appointments.
The Massage Envy sexual assault settlement was reached in Harris County, where the lawsuit was filed due to the therapist’s residence, a venue known for being more favorable to plaintiffs in cases like sexual assault.
The case was resolved quickly due to compelling evidence, including the therapist’s personnel file. This left little doubt of this employee should not have been employed. It documented multiple prior complaints about inappropriate behavior that were addressed with retraining (seriously?) rather than termination. The two victims independently reported their assaults within weeks of each other, leading to the therapist’s arrest.
August 2024: A business that operated a chain of Massage Envy franchise locations in Texas was forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month. The bankruptcy was partly prompted by significant liabilities incurred as a result of a wave of sexual assault lawsuits against the company involving massage therapists.
July 2024: A Delaware court will allow several claims to proceed against Massage Envy Franchising, LLC in a case involving allegations of sexual assault at one of its franchise locations.
The plaintiff in this Massage Envy lawsuit alleges that a massage therapist employed at a Delaware franchise sexually assaulted her during a scheduled session. Central to the case is whether Massage Envy, as the franchisor, can be held accountable for the actions and policies of its independently owned franchises. The court determined that the plaintiff presented sufficient evidence of Massage Envy’s extensive control over its franchises—through detailed operating manuals, training protocols, and internal policies—to support claims of vicarious liability and negligence.
This is important for plaintiffs. You want access to the franchisor. The court underscored allegations that Massage Envy maintained a centralized database of sexual assault complaints and required such complaints to be handled internally, rather than reported to law enforcement or licensing authorities. This pattern, the plaintiff argues, created systemic risks that culminated in her assault. The court allowed claims of negligence, negligent performance of services, negligent misrepresentation, and violations of the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act to move forward.
This decision reflects the increasing willingness of courts to scrutinize corporate franchisors that exercise significant control over franchisee operations, potentially opening new avenues for plaintiffs seeking accountability in sexual assault cases like this.
April 2024: A woman in Fort Worth, Texas filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against a local Massage Envy location and its parent company. The lawsuit alleges that the woman was digitally penetrated without consent by a male massage therapist during an appointment.
September 2023: Two women filed a lawsuit against a Massage Envy franchise in Conroe, Texas, alleging sexual assaults by an during their appointments. One woman alleged the employee forcibly performed non-consensual sexual acts, resulting in her contracting HSV-1. The other plaintiff accused the of inappropriate touching and improper draping practices, leaving her exposed and vulnerable. Both incidents were reported to police, leading to the man’s arrest on felony sexual assault charges. This sexual misconduct case settled for the policy limits of $1 million.
About Massage Envy
Massage Envy is a national chain of retail massage service stores. Massage Envy has locations across the country and they are the biggest massage retailer in the country. In addition to traditional massage services, Massage Therapy provides a host of other “spa” type services, including facials and personal stretching sessions.
Like any massage, services at Massage Envy are provided by a massage therapist in a private, one-on-one setting. The client getting the massage disrobes to a certain extent (depending on the type of massage) and is in a room with the door shut while the therapist performs the massage service.
Massage Envy is the largest massage chain and the biggest employer of massage therapists in the United States, with over 1,100 locations nationwide, including all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Massage Envy employs over 20,000 massage therapists across the country. Most of them are licensed by their state. Each year they perform over 18 million massages.
That is a lot of massages. So even if Massage Envy was run perfectly, you could get some sexual assault cases. But Massage Envy is not run anything close to perfectly and the way they do business adds fuel to the fire. So despite being aware of the real and highly foreseeable risk of sexual assault to customers, Massage Envy sex abuse lawsuits allege that the company has failed to establish and enforce adequate procedures and protocols to mitigate this risk. When such incidents do occur, the company pulls out the sex abuse defense playbook. It frequently relies on secretive arbitration proceedings, overly broad confidentiality orders, and other tactics to keep customers, employees, regulators, law enforcement, and the public unaware of these serious occurrences at Massage Envy locations nationwide.
Sexual Assaults by Massage Envy Therapists
Several years ago, a report was released and published by the Washington Post and other major news outlets detailing a large number of incidents involving alleged sexual abuse of clients by Massage Envy therapists. The report identified a group of nearly 200 women all of whom alleged that they had been sexually assaulted to varying degrees during a massage appointment at Massage Envy.
The nature of the acts of sexual assault varied in each case, but they mostly followed a similar and predictable pattern. The female clients claimed that they were in the massage rooms, usually laying face down on the therapy table with no clothes on their upper body and just underwear, with a towel for coverage. In almost all the incidents, the sexual assault involved a male massage therapist touching or groping the client’s breasts and other private areas unexpectedly and without consent during the course of the massage. In some cases the incidents escalated to digital and even oral penetration.
Massage Envy Ignored Complaints
One of the consistent themes among of the hundreds of incidents detailed in the report was the way in which Massage Envy store managers and employees ignored and deflected complaints from the victims of these incidents. Victims said that when the attempted to report the acts of sexual assault to employees at the Massage Envy store, they were met with a very dismissive attitude.
Lawyers for Massage Envy have since claimed that the company went to great lengths to take all complaints seriously and investigate allegations. However, various early news reports all found that Massage Envy’s company policies regarding how to handle these complaints were focused primarily on protecting the company’s image and shielding it from liability.
Criminal Charges Against Massage Envy Therapists
While most of the alleged acts of assault at Massage Envy were not lead to charges for various reasons, there have been a few cases in which the Massage Envy therapists were reported to the police. In a small handful of these cases, the Massage Envy therapists were charged with criminal sex offenses.
For example, a therapist from a Massage Envy location in Washington, DC was charged with first-degree sexual abuse based on allegation that he sexually assaulted three different female clients during a massage. That massage therapist was eventually convicted and sentenced to 60 months in prison.
Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against Massage Envy
The news report about incidents of sexual assault by Massage Envy therapist brought a lot of public attention to this issue. As a direct result of that attention, victims across the country began coming forward to tell their stories. Many of these victims also began filing sexual abuse lawsuits against Massage Envy.
The sex abuse lawsuits against Massage Envy are based on allegations that the company was negligent in several ways and that this negligence enabled or allowed the sexual assaults on clients to happen. Among other things, the lawsuits claim that Massage Envy was negligent in failing to properly screen massage therapists during the hiring process and identify potential abusers. The lawsuits also claim that Massage Envy failed to create appropriate and effective policies and procedures for preventing sexual assaults on clients.
Another general theme in the Massage Envy lawsuits is the way in which the company handled and responded to individual complaints of sexual assault made by clients. The company is accused of basically ignoring, discouraging, and deflecting all complaints alleging that a massage therapist sexually assault a client or acted inappropriately. Instead of investigating the incident and taking appropriate action (such as firing the therapist) the company did everything they could to discourage the client from pursuing their complaint.
Massage Envy Sex Abuse Lawsuit Settlements
Over the years, a large number of Massage Envy sexual assault lawsuits have been filed against the company all across the country. Most of these lawsuits have eventually been resolved in out-of-court settlements. Unfortunately, the terms of these settlement agreements are strictly confidential so we have no way of knowing what type of compensation was paid. That said…strong lawsuits in this litigation are worth an awful lot of money. Individual franchises typically have $1 million in coverage which is not a large number in some of these lawsuits.
Contact Us About Massage Envy Sex Assault Lawsuits
The Massage Envy continues to make headlines as more survivors come forward to share their experiences of sexual misconduct at the nation’s largest massage chain. It is an absolute scandal what some of these masseuses do and try to get away with. In massage sex assault cases, our attorneys see the same disturbing patterns of negligence and systemic failures over and over again. Many lawsuits involve Massage Envy sexual assault incidents that stem from the company’s inadequate screening of massage therapists and the mishandling of abuse allegations. These claims have raised questions about whether corporate policies prioritized protecting the brand over client safety.
If you were the victim of sexual assault, groping, or inappropriate touching during a massage service at a Massage Envy store, you may be able to file a civil lawsuit and get compensation. Our national sex abuse lawyers are accepting Massage Envy abuse cases in all 50 states. Call us at 800-553-8082 or contact us online.