Woman sues hotel for $20M after bed bug attack
These photos supplied by the law offices of Zalman & Schnurman, show the bed bug bites on the body of Leslie Fox, were taken at the Ellenville Regional Hosptial in Ellenville, N.Y.
Woman sues hotel for $20M after bed bug attack
Updated Fri. Mar. 10 2006 11:00 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Chicago woman is suing a New York hotel for $20 million US after she says she suffered more than 500 bed bug bites.
Leslie Fox, 54, said neither she nor her husband felt the bed bugs bite while they slept at the 700-room Nevele Hotel in Ellenville, N.Y., last summer.
But after her third night there, the booking agent said she woke up to find itchy red welts all over her body.
"I was horrified to see all of those bites," Fox told the Associated Press Wednesday. "My skin felt as if it was on fire and I wanted to tear it off."
Fox said she and her husband, who was also bitten but not as badly, pulled their bed apart and found a swarm of bugs under the sheets.
"The bugs were sent to the University of Illinois in Chicago and verified to be bed bugs," Fox's attorney Alan Schnurman told AP.
Schnurman said the sheets on the bed were speckled with blood and smeared with spots of bug excrement.
When the couple reported the infestation to hotel staff, they were offered two free nights, but Fox and her husband Stephen Cohen declined, Schnurman said, because they were itching to get away.
The couple were treated at a local hospital, Schnurman said, adding that Fox's severe reaction to the bites were apparently the result of an allergy and that she is still undergoing treatment.
Fox, who books engagements for lecturers and entertainers, said she is still suffering and is now afraid to sleep in any hotel without stripping the bed and examining it minutely with a flashlight and magnifying glass.
Joe O'Connor, a lawyer for the resort, told AP that 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 United States because of alleged bed bug attacks in hotels.
And this is not just a U.S. phenomenon, according to experts.
Dave Holland, a pest remover in Halifax, has noticed a major increase in calls about bed bugs.
"So far this year, last three months, I'd say I've gotten about 100 calls," Holland told CTV.
The rise in bed bug attacks has been blamed on the decline of pesticides and the increase in international travel.
Getting rid of the bedtime bandits, however, is as simple as changing the linen or vacuuming them up in most cases.
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you got bit by some fucking bugs. I'm sure that's unpleasant and all, but come the fuck on.
