I think Peter Young’s case was in housing court and I don’t think it was a lawsuit where large amounts could be “sued” for. He only got a rent abatement. I could be wrong.

Bed bug dogs are a great idea for hotels. But first, the hotel will have to take responsibility for eradicating the problem, and accept that money will be lost because rooms will have to be out of circulation when bugs are found.

A few hotels already do. Perhaps a few more lawsuits will convince others– if the plaintiffs win.

Make no mistake, I think she should sue. When I said “this sort of lawsuit can’t be sustained” I meant: “that’s a good thing.” If people sue for $6 million it will bring hotels and landlords to their knees and lead to some changes. People will take this seriously. So yes, I agree pressuring the system in this way is good.
I think $6 million is a bit much, but that’s not to say she shouldn’t do it. Sorry I was not clear.

Also, I am frustrated that housing court gives settlements of $500 a month (1/2 the rent) to a guy who lived with this for up to two years after his landlord was asked to remove the problem (which was building-wide and KNOWN to the landlord MUCH before that).

I read another article on the same case, which provided more insight.

In the Seattle Times online, Allison Trainer reportedly described her experience to her lawyer as “‘Horrific’… Left her afraid to sleep in a bed, caused her to lose weight and made her uncomfortable about her physical appearance.”

Hmmm. A random opera singer who encountered bedbugs during one stay at a popular hotel chain endured the same “paranoia” as purported by Mara Altman’s recent Village Voice article? I mean, the singer had trouble eatiing and sleeping, right? Really?

So, then, does it make sense that since Ms. Trainer only experienced bedbugs once, then the rest of us, who experience them time and again in our own HOMES, would not be considered PARANOID?

I mean, if Ms. Trainer experienced weight loss, lack of sleep and insecurity about her appearance because of bedbug bites that were incurred over less than a weeks’ duration at an infested hotel, then it would naturally follow that those of us who experience this trauma on a daily basis would be FREAKED OUT and DESPERATE FOR HELP, right? As opposed to paranoid, of course…

Jess

As much as I think hotels and landlords should never knowingly put someone in this position, if that was the case, I am thinking this kind of lawsuit can’t be sustained as this epidemic grows. Of course as Bugalina points out, the normal folks can’t afford to sue for $6 million. But landlords probably won’t be able to pay it out either.

But even if they could, $6 million still seems quite absurd. In a case mentioned in the recent (10/15/06) NYTimes article, Peter Young (the Ludlow St tenant) was bitten from 2003-2004 and got only a 45% abatement of his $1000-ish per month rent. Young’s landlord did not do enough to solve the problem over a long period, and that was the basis for the judge ruling as he did.
(The NYT article says bed bugs are a class B violation and landlords have 30 days to fix it, which is interesting, since many cases take longer to eradicate!)

Anyway, housing court is in such a wildly different arena from the courts Soprano Allison Trainer and Maya Rudolph are suing in.