An Arkansas woman staying at a hotel claims she was bitten by bed bugs. Certainly grounds to demand a refund, if true. Or, you could claim to be traumatized by the experience, and file a lawsuit. Mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation? Is that it? Couldn’t they pile on any more claims from a few bug bites?
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Paying for a hotel and getting bitten by bedbugs is grounds to seek more than a refund–assuming the allegations are true. Whether the demand is reasonable depends on whether she’s seeking thousands or millions.
The fact that “the Benton County Department of Health investigated the claim and found it groundless,” if true, would concern me more.
Oh, it constitutes legal grounds for a lawsuit — but just because one can sue doesn’t necessarily mean one should, and even if the claim is legit — if, say, she had medical bills as a result of the bug bites — this doesn’t mean one needs to pile on charges of mental anguish.
(Oh, and as for “paying for a hotel,” this hotel wasn’t exactly the Ritz Carlton. Not that this would excuse bed bugs, of course.)
I think I am going to have to go (at least partially) with her on this one. My wife and I stayed at a Hilton in Ft Lauderdale last year. Separate beds were all that were available and my wife looked like a plague victim the next morning. She had more than two hundred bed bug bites. I will never forget the sight of her standing on top of her suitcase while I quickly packed. (we found out they only come out at night later) She started having an alergic reaction, so I had to take her to the emergency room where she spent several hours being given steroids by IV. She had to sleep with ice packs on her for several nights. So, yes, there was certainly pain and anguish. Medical bills? you betcha. I am not sure if I would use the word “humiliation”, however, I think “mortified” and “disgusted” and “furious” would be better. She still can’t talk about it.
This was a horrible experience. NOT just a “few bug bites”
As a typical vacation traveller, I cringe when I read the not-too-infrequent stories about common hygiene problems in hotels– even those not considered “flea bag” hotels. So if this sort of lawsuit abuse has any effect on hotels cleaning up their collective act, at least some benefit will result.
If she has a legitimate claim (which is a big if here), and the hotel is denying the claim (as it is), then she has little choice but a lawsuit.
I don’t have a problem with noneconomic damages if a plaintiff isn’t seeking a windfall. A bedbug infestation isn’t like a handful of mosquito bites.
Perhaps I’m just not familiar enough with bedbugs to realize the severity of the (alleged) injury. My experience with them is limited to my mother’s injunction to me not to let them bite.
(My natural skepticism just kicks in very quickly when I start reading claims about “recurring nightmares” as the basis for a cause of action.)
Bedbugs had been almost eradicated in the United States. That’s why so few people are familiar with them.
In recent years, however, bedbugs have made a resurgence in this country. The Mayo Clinic blames more foreign visitors as well as changes in pest control techniques (including the elimination of DDT) with the resurgence.
Why the recent return of bed bugs? Were they not previously eradicated? Perhaps the pesticides succesfully used in the past are no longer available. Could their disappearance from the market have something to do with an unwarranted fear of “evil” chemicals?
I would not be shocked to learn that hotels were sued in the past for injuries allegedly resulting from exposure to pesticides.
In our case, we received the first call from the hotel lawyers while we were still at the hospital. He did not know, yet, that that was where we were. The guy actually gasped when he asked how my wife was doing after her experience and I told him that the doctor was starting her on an IV and they were using ice packs to get the swelling down. But, he got ahold of himself quickly. He told me that, of course, the hotel was not going to charge for the room (which made me laugh at him) and that they wanted to send me a check for 500 dollars to “help with expenses” I asked if that would constitute a release and he quickly said, oh no, of course not. The 500 was just a good will gesture. The money never arrived, of course. I am quite sure that, if I had taken their money, they would have told me later that it was intended as a final settlement. When I asked that question, they dropped that plan.
We filed no lawsuit and I hired no lawyer. We settled the whole thing for several thousand dollars and let it go at that. We considered it fair. True, she was in extreme discomfort for a few days, but there was no permanent damage.
My wife put it in her funny money account and calls it her “bedbug money”
I don’t know if it qualifies as a “recurring nightmare”, but she still shudders when the word “bedbug” is spoken anywhere near her.
“(My natural skepticism just kicks in very quickly when I start reading claims about “recurring nightmares” as the basis for a cause of action.)”
Ditto. While bedbugs are indeed much worse than many people are aware (since we are morons and refuse to use the pesticides that essentially wiped thm out of North America 50ish years ago), this has all the hallmarks of a shakedown.
>(since we are morons and refuse to use the pesticides that essentially wiped thm out of North America 50ish years ago),
Could it also be because we are too cheap to replace or sterilize infected mattresses?
In Nevada, where I live, it is against the law to re-sell a mattress unless it has been sterilized by the method presribed by the state board of health. This leads me to believe that there is a way to disinfect mattresses without the use of banned pesticides, if one cares to spend the money. I opted to flaunt the law and sell mine illegally, buyer beware.
And I can still buy a Raid fogger at the grocery store. Not cheap though.
How did our ancestors ever make it out of the cave? The recurring nightmares they must have had to endure had to have been horrifying – “Your honor, I was just sitting by the fire, separating berries & nuts, when suddenly, out of no where, a leopard jumped from the bushes and took a bight out of my arm. The tribal elders knew or should have known about the dangers of living in the stone age! I deserve restitution!”
In 44 yrs of the hotel biz, we had one complaint about a bed bug attack.
Folks headed for medical care, we hit the room with a vengeance! Found NOTHING at all alive that could have actually bitten the woman, NOTHING!
The hubby was fine, no problems at all, not a single infraction to his skin! They slept in the same bed as well.
It was later determined that she had an allergic reaction to either one of our laundry products, not likely as they really are cleaned very well, rinsed very well and don’t sit around for more than 24 hours before they are back on a bed. OR the challenge happened the night before they arrived at our place, and it hit her in the middle of the night. Both plasuiable occurrences.
Dr’s could not find any direct evidence of bug bites, but no question she had a rash covering her body, gave her some cream and it must have worked out ok for them. No real harm and as I took great notes during our conversations picked up the room and the medical, it ended.
It was upsetting, and for me almost as much as them, actually more so as it was a busy time of the year, I suffered GREAT mental anguish! đŸ™‚
People come into your world with all sorts of ails, allergies, some bring along hitch hikers (bugs), as well as attitudes. Reality, it’s the latter that will bite.
DANG, I had not read the article. Well she was undergoing some medical processes. BUT she says she did capture three bugs in a baggie. But three bugs do not have the ability to decimate a human being. These are the times that folks need to work together and first figure out a cause, as others health is also at risk. Then of course make ammends at both ends. WITHOUT attorneys!
GAWD I’d hate to run a hotel in the South!
“And I can still buy a Raid fogger at the grocery store. Not cheap though.”
And not effective against bed bugs, either. They’re VERY hard to get rid of with the modern, namby-pamby stuff we are allowed to use.
Can’t say I agree with you this time.
Judge Posner, no friend of plaintiffs’ shake-down suits, wrote an opinion for the 7th Circuit a year or two ago upholding a hefty punitive damages award against a hotel which continued to rent out rooms after bed-bug reports. The opinion explained (it was news to me) how painful and dangerous bed bugs can be.
Elliot, I actually remember reading that opinion when it was handed down. It’s Mathias v. Accor. The hotel’s conduct was extremely egregious in that case; the issue there was the proprietary of large punitive damages.
Rooms that the motel had placed on “Do not rent, bugs in room” status nevertheless were rented. in the Mathias case is as good an argument for punitive damages as any I’ve seen. Note, though, that the plaintiffs in that case claimed only $10,000 in compensatory damages.