This has been a most bizarre case from all aspects but there are some simple facts. If the family were to file a civil case or cases they will encounter 1 huge problem. In civil cases a percentage of responsibility can be used to determine the amount of damages. That being said there is more than enough culpability to go around thus reducing the hotels percentage of responsibility.
With no intent to victim blame here are some of the contributing culpabilities:
1. KM herself. Drank or imbibed to an unsafe level of intoxication. This barely league young lady made numerous errors in judgement that unfortunately lead to her death.
2 Mom - placidly agreeing to wait if she was truly of the belief her daughter was in danger should have been more insistent with LE. I as a mother of daughters would never have given my girls the keys to run around that time of night. Nothing good can happen from it. Also it concerns me when the parent self identifies as "hotchick" and already has a child in prison.
3 Friends - again just poor decision making by barely adult persons
Hotel - walk in freezers and rerigeration units are required to be locked when not attended by employees. Just as average citizens are required to remove the doors from a refrigerator before disposing of it or leaving it unattended outside. These are dangerous appliances. Also she could not have accidentally turned the freezer on. They require turning on the compressors which are not on the inside but behind the freezer. This freezer may have been on as an overflow for the other resturaunts or for use by customers during corporate events. I know certain industries ship large amounts of items requiring cold storage in advance of events.
I also personally know how difficult it can be to get a hotel to risk the privacy of customers in a potential emergency. A few years back my husband was away on business, He was an overweight middle age man with a family history of cardiac issues and hadn't been feeling well when he left. I was on the phone with him when he made a strange sound, I heard the phone drop and he uttered an obscenity not usually in his vocabulary, and the phone went dead. I tried to call him back both on the hotel phone and his cell to no avail. Trying not to panic and assume the worst I kept calling a few time but then knew if the worst occurred I was wasting time. All I could think was 4 minutes without oxygen and brain damage occurs. I called the front desk and tried to explain the situation. First the put me on hold and trie to call the room coming back only to tell me there was no answer, duh. After pleading and begging I finally resorted to threats. LE or a lawsuit if he was suffering a medical emergency. Finally, I got an employee to check the room. To my embarrassment he was not in the room. I sheepishly apologized and thanked them profusely. My husband however did not fare so well. It turned out he had a few drinks with friends and they decided to go out for a late bite. Knowing that the alcohol and late meal were not on his diet he was trying to pull a sneaky. By the time I finally heard from him that night I probably didn't need the phone for him to hear my thoughts. LOL Anyway, point being hotels deal with way too many irresponsible adults trying to get by with something that they don't take those complaints serious enough to disturb those paying them. It also appears the closer hotels are to airport traffic the more discretion required by employees.
I am am sure in the end Mom will get a nice check to help with her grief but there is lots of fault to go around. Unfortunately in this situation most goes to the victim of her own choices. Recent studies have shown that the human brain is not fully formed until about age 25 yet we as a society give adult decisions to those not quite ready for them and then wonder why they end up with such horrific results. JMHO
I hope it cheered you up! (the show, I mean)