Posted on 03/07/2006 10:46:05 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(CBS) CHICAGO Last year, there were reports of serious bed bug infestations in dozens of states. Now, a Chicago woman is suing a hotel for $20 million after waking up one morning with more than 500 bed bug bites.
"My body felt as if it was on fire. I just wanted to tear it off,” Leslie Fox said.
Leslie Fox, a 54-year-old bookings agent, says that after four nights at the 700-room Nevele Hotel in Ellenville, New York last July, she awoke to find red, itchy welts all over her body.
"I had no idea what was happening to me. We noticed the blood on the bed. I became very upset and alarmed,” she said.
She and her husband – who was also bitten, but not so badly – tore the bed apart and found a swarm of bugs under the linens.
"The bugs were sent to the University of Illinois in Chicago and verified to be bed bugs,” said attorney Alan Schnurman.
When the couple reported to hotel officials that their room was infested, the officials offered two free nights but Fox and Cohen declined, Schnurman said, because they were just itching to leave.
Joe O'Connor, a lawyer for the resort, said he and his client had not seen the lawsuit so he could not comment. But he said the hotel has ongoing treatment and inspection by pest control companies that will certify the Nevele is bug-free.
O'Connor also said he had contacted the lawyer who filed the suit and was "trying to work things out."
Several other lawsuits have been filed in New York City and around the country because of alleged bedbugs attacks in hotels.
Bed bugs are bloodsuckers, but they are not known to transmit disease. Their bite is painless, and it can take up to nine days for welts to appear.
Redness and irritation fade after several days, but one dermatologist says each person reacts differently.
"While a bed bug may bite me and I get a very small reaction, it could bite you and get a large reaction,” said Rush University Medical Center Dr. Clarence Brown.
Fox, who has seen five doctors, says she’s still suffering. She says she’s scarred, stressed every time she sleeps in a hotel and afraid she may have unknowingly carried home bedbug eggs that may still hatch.
"A clean room is not necessary any guarantee of a safe room,” she said.
How can you protect yourself? It’s tough because bed bugs only come out at night. They hide during the day in mattresses, headboards, upholstery and inside walls and baseboards. They can fit in a crevice the width of a playing card, and they can live for a year without food. Most people don’t know they have them until they’ve been bitten.
O'Connor, the resort lawyer, noted that bedbugs have become a problem in many places across the country, even in upscale hotels. He attributed the bedbug's resurgence to international travel and the banning of some dangerous pesticides.
Boy, are those big bed bug bites. Bad.
Bedbugs are small flat bugs about the size of an apple seed that live in cracks and crevices of beds. They only come out at night to feed on people's blood with a painless bite. The only way to know about a bite is when you see the red, itchy welts on your skin in the morning.
"You'll also see dark red or black streaks of digested blood on the sheets along with a very distinctive, sweet smell which is the telltale sign of bedbug infestations," said Ludek Zurek of the Kansas State University's Department of Entomology.
I would have left after 2 or 3 hundred...
Love that tongue twister.
Ugh, that reminds me of a nasty infestation of similar sumbitches last year. I still have the scars. :-(
"because they were just itching to leave"
LOL!
I've always wondered why some int'l flights seem to smell bad and I'm sure the environazis are responsible for the banning of some 'dangerous'(emph. mine) pesticides.
it is her fault, she didnt "sleep tight"
$20 million? $40,000 per bed bug bite?
Quick, somebody FreepMail me the address of that hotel so I can catch a red-eye flight and check into the hotel before they fumigate.
But mighty purty critters when they put on make-up.
I'm a sucker for blue eyes
"I'm a sucker for blue eyes"
And it's a sucker. Period.
At least the lobby looks swanky.
The amount that she's suing for is asinine, but at least she has a valid reason.
they have an excellent claim. Not a $20 million claim, but a few hundred thousand dollars is not out of the question. More if the scarring is ongoing and the woman is relatively attractive, i.e. she had a body that earns the right to a a relatively revealing swim suit.
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