A second lawsuit has been filed against Rams Head and the company's former president, who is accused of secretly recording women in a bathroom at a restaurant in Howard County.
Three women said they were customers who used the restrooms at Rams Head's Savage Mill location — where secret videotaping was alleged to have taken place — between January and May of 2014. The women say in the lawsuit that they "reasonably expected private restrooms, un-intruded by surreptitiously installed video surveillance equipment."
Kyle Muehlhauser, then the president of Rams Head, was charged in February in Howard County with multiple counts of visual surveillance with prurient intent and "peeping Tom" and is scheduled for a trial in Howard County District Court on April 23.
In the latest lawsuit, filed March 24, the three women are seeking class-action status, saying they and other women suffered humiliation, anxiety and distress due to the videotaping. They're seeking more than $20 million in damages.
Their attorney, G. Russell Donaldson of Crofton, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Rams Head officials also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
This is the second civil lawsuit against Rams Head and Muehlhauser, 37, of Severna Park. A 35-year-old Laurel woman sued last month, seeking $3 million. That woman said she visited the Rams Head restaurant in Savage a dozen times in the month before the videotaping was discovered and said she is "reasonably certain" she was taped.
Clarke Ahlers, the Columbia attorney handling the first lawsuit, said he's now heard from two women who used the restroom the day the camera was discovered, as well as others who used the restroom in the days prior. He's seeking class-action status for his case as well.
Ahlers said he hasn't talked with Donaldson yet about similarities between the cases. "My guess is that we'll, at some point, sit down and compare notes," he said.
According to Howard County Police, a woman reported that while in the restroom at the Rams Head restaurant in Savage Mill last May, a video camera fell to the floor next to her. Recordings on the camera showed someone placing the camera in the bathroom. Six women were captured on the video, which was pointed at a toilet, according to charging documents.
Police matched DNA from the camera to Muehlhauser, according to charging documents.
Muehlhauser is the son of Rams Head founder Bill Muehlhauser, who abandoned his semi-retirement to help run the company in the wake of the criminal case. Erin McNaboe, previously the company's vice president, was promoted to president, and Kyle Muehlhauser took a "long-term leave of absence away from the business."
In February, Kyle Muehlhauser said in a statement he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the criminal charges. He said he was "sickened this incident has caused pain for others." His criminal defense attorney could not immediately be reached Wednesday, and he has no attorney listed in either civil case.
The Rams Head Group headquartered in Annapolis, owns restaurants in Crownsville, Savage, Stevensville and Annapolis, as well as the concert venues Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis, Rams Head Center Stage at the Maryland Live casino in Hanover and Rams Head Live at the Power Plant Live complex in Baltimore. The company also operates the Pier Six concert pavilion, which is owned by the City of Baltimore.
Baltimore Sun Media Group reporter Amanda Yeager contributed to this report.
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