Comments on: new Ohio Hilton bed bug lawsuit

By: bryana g

bryana g — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:27:16 +0000

the cases get more and more outrageous as they go. im doing a repot on bed bugs and i now have a new respectfor the phrase “dont let the bed bugs bite”

By: fightorflight

fightorflight — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:36:25 +0000

Going back to the beginning, I think I basically agree with Bugalina and have said this before. I welcome these lawsuits because I am hoping they will motivate the hospitality industry to throw more money into R&D for finding easier, more effective and cheaper bedbug treatments.

By: David Belvin

David Belvin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:14:11 +0000

I totally sympathise with this person.
I recently stayed at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans and got multiple bits on both lower legs.
Reported to hotel and they documented,photo and offered me gifts from the Gift Shop.
Hilton subsequently turned the claim over to their risk management group,SRS, who immediately denied any responsibility.
Now I understand why, they fear another lawsuit.
Hilton will not share inspection reports or treatment of room, but at adiment their have no responsibility.
After reading these posting I will now pursue furhter options.

By: Bugalina

Bugalina — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:07:06 +0000

I am not at all suspicious of her. I don’t think she would moved forward with a lawsuit unless there were signs of bed bugs all over that room, once it was examined. I would imagine this was documented in her lawsuit. To get that many bites, the mattress and room had to have been very infested. Of course she wouldn’t have known this, unless she was looking for it. We are all well aware of how well bed bugs can hide. The cleaning staff probably ignored all the signs. Those large Catkills Hotels have been neglected over the years, so it didn’t suprise me that a room there could get so infested. I hope this hotel paid a large price for their negligence.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:42:52 +0000

Bugalina,

She could not have made up that she had had bed bug bites. I suppose it raises the question of whether she got them somewhere else, and then went to the hotel and claimed it happened there. I am not saying that happened, but I think it was suspicious.

I don’t personally buy her assuming it was just the one room. Of course just one hotel room can be infested, but I think most people would not be willing to risk it, even knowing nothing about bed bugs.

Let me put it this way: this question is for anyone who was bitten in a hotel: would you go back to the hotel, to stay in another room, without assurance the place had been tested or treated?

By: Bugalina

Bugalina — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 02:03:53 +0000

Nobugs…That is the case I am referring to…I saw the photos of her body so i know she couldn’t have made that up. Did you see the photos?? I believe they showed them on TV as well as online. She was mauled…however I didn’t know that she returned to the hotel. But there could be some justification of this. When this happened, a few years ago, the habits of bed bugs were not really known to the average person. She could have been ignorant to the fact that bed bugs travel ..she might have truly believed that only that one room had a problem….To the uninformed person, that seems like a reasonable assumption. Now we all know better. Prior to my bed bug education I would have been as unenlightened as most, like my friend who said to me ” why don’t you just throw your bed away”….So maybe this woman thought that only that room posed a danger and that after it was “cleaned” that was the end of the problem…little did she know….that would be my defense….I do think the photos of her bites were very serious…I don’t think that because she returned it negated her case….her lack of knowledge about bed bugs could account for her naivete.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:36:28 +0000

James,

I didn’t say this lawsuit was affected in any way by the fact that tenants suffer far more with a home infestation and can’t sue in this way. I was just remarking on the disjunct there.

Bugalina,

I believe you mean the Catskills case regarding the Chicago woman, Leslie Fox, who stayed at the Nevele Hotel–not the Condorde– and was bit 500 times?
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2006-03-08-bedbugs-catskills_x.htm

But there’s a twist to this case. Other papers reported that Fox returned to the same hotel
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/030906BedbugBites.html
North Country Gazette said:

” But hotel attorney Joe O’Connor says that the couple returned later that summer. Fox says it was because her husband was under contract to give a lecture and she wanted to attend. O’Connor says the second stay negates her claim because it shows that she was willing to stay in the same section of the hotel two weeks later.”

I realize this may not legally affect the suit (I am not a lawyer), but it does make one suspicious of the validity of the claim. If you were bitten 500 times over six nights, would you return and stay in the same part of the hotel two weeks later?!?!? I can tell you there are other hotels in the Ellenville, NY region, where she could have stayed. And I am sure that they would have been allowed to drop the booking by the hotel, considering their experience.

By: Bugalina

Bugalina — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:48:00 +0000

Buggles Its not a perfect world. Lawsuits , if added up, have probably done more good than harm. There should be some stopgap for frivolous lawsuits like the guy who sued the dry cleaner for 50 million for loss of pants. Has anyone looked at the photos of the woman who sued the CONCORD Hotel, up in the Catskills…She was covered with bites. It was horrifying. Buggles I know disclaimers don’t always hold up in court but I am trying to point out how ludicrious it is to say that the Hotel’s liability stops at “assumption of risk”…it is ridiculous to “assume” this. If I woke up looking like that woman from the Concord or with bites all over me, I would sue too. Hotels absolutely cannot expect their guests to assume that there is a possibility of being mauled by bed bugs or bringing them home. Its happening now because the vast majority of people are still unawares of this fast growing epidemic, being kept in the dark deliberately by big business. But if this epidemic continues too grow as per the foretelling of professionals like Doggett “current outbreaks are part of a global epidemic, with the number of bed bugs worldwide doubling each year”, then Hotels are going to have to fund research and do what they must to insure their guests a bed bug free room. Until then, as far as I am concerned, the onus is on them.

By: James Buggles

James Buggles — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:04:02 +0000

NB, I’m sure what relevance the suffering of others has on this case. Litigation is not a zero sum game. If some guy gets struck by lightening while driving his car, why should that prevent someone else from filing a lawsuit when he is rear ended at a stoplight? Like it or not, without lawsuits, there would be many dangerous products and services in the marketplace.

By: James Buggles

James Buggles — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:58:49 +0000

The lawsuit is justified. And the hotel has deep pockets so the lawsuit is also feasible. Waivers do not always stand up in court. I doubt many courts would be sympathetic to a hotel that claims it’s up to guests to look for signs of bedbugs.