*** July 19, 2008 Update: Here is a link to a major news outlet story about bed bugs in major hotels. Click Here:
Here is a link to a video about bed bugs and what to look for. Click Here
Imagine you and your spouse have been traveling for many hours on a major interstate highway on your motorcycle or in your car, truck or other motor vehicle.
You and your spouse are very tired, sleepy, and decide to get a hotel or motel for the evening. You stop at what you think is big name, trustworthy, reputable motel chain to get a room for the night.
As you are sleeping you start to feel itchy, and that something is wrong. Imagine waking up to find out that you have been bitten hundreds of time by bed bugs or other blood eating insects! You have got that right bed bugs! Imagine the bites becoming infected; for weeks you suffer not only with the infection, but when it goes away, you have permanent scarring. Here is a link to the Harvard School of Public Health which explains what bed bugs are in great detail.
What do you do?
Well the first thing that you should do under the circumstances is seek medical treatment as soon as possible. A few bites are one thing, but hundreds are a whole different matter. You could have an allergic reaction, they could become infected, you could suffer scarring, etc. Prompt medical treatment will most likely give you a better prognosis.
The next thing you should do is take pictures of your bites. If you do not have a digital camera, buy a disposable camera and take pictures.
You should then notify the hotel / motel owner or manager of what happened as soon as reasonably possible, preferably before you check out. Obviously you do not want to go back into the room unless you have to, and anything taken out of the room by you needs to be washed, scrubbed, thrown out, etc., or you risk taking the bed bugs with you.
You should then immediately call a California Personal Injury Attorney such as me if your incident occurred anywhere in the State of California or another personal injury attorney if your incident occurred outside of California. You should call a personal injury attorney within 24 to 48 hours of your incident because of all the things that need to be done in your case, and because of all of the things you can do to screw your case up on your own.
Motel / Hotel (“Innkeepers”) owners have a higher duty of due care than normal to ensure that their rooms are safe and habitable for paying guest. If they allow bedbug infestations, or other insect infestations to cause injuries to their guests, they are liable for all damages proximately caused for their failure to prevent such infestations.
Check out my California Personal Injury Website Here for valuable information about personal injury cases. Remember, only a fool has himself or herself for a client.
If you have been the victim of bed bugs in a hotel / motel, a motorcycle accident, a car accident, a truck accident, a dog bite, a slip and fall, or any other personal injury, anywhere in the State of California that you think may have been caused by someone else, or where you think someone else may be responsible for your injuries, give us a call 7 days a week, 24 hours a day at 800-816-1529, extension 1. We will give you a free consultation over the phone, and tell you what we think about your case.
If we believe that we can help you, you may retain our firm on a contingency basis (in most cases) which means that you will not have to pay any money out of your pocket, unless we recover for you.
If you do not feel like calling you may click here to submit your California case to us online. If we feel that we can help you, we will respond to you. Either way, you have nothing to lose, and potentially everything to gain.
Take care all and remember; don’t let the bed bugs bite!
California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, © 2008
Welcome, my name is 
YUK!!! I guess it is best to stay at a five star motel/hotel than a bargain rate!! It is recommended that we buy new pillows every six months and new mattress every 5=7 years because of mites and bugs!!!
That really makes me crawl… I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight!
Can you at least tell us which motel/hotel not to use?? I find that if one has a problem that most likely all do.
I have not stayed at a motel/hotelsince I read this.
Norm, u get my 2 emails from the other day??
I just left a brief phone message at the front desk’s answering machine. I need your legal expertise on our bed bugs case in Luxor Hotel & Casino in Lan Vegas that took place in Feb.28th. I just visited your website, it happended more than 3 months ago though. I wrote two seperate pages of the personal report on the incident at the time of management visit to our room. They sent us the release form. The Hotel is willing to reimburse the cost of dry cleaning and some medical expenses of blood test that was little over $500 and along with two complimentary nights upon requesting from us. It is subject to the room availability without any assurance so I reserved it on my own by the Player’s club promotion. One of the hotel manager mentioned $200 per person for compensation or something at the time of taking report if we decided to leave all of our belongings–of course, we declined. What happened was that we found two bugs, one dried dead on the upper corner of my bed right below my pillow and the other captured alive by me in the tub that had bitten one of my invited friend on his chest during sleeping. When my wife first spotted one in the tub follwing day mysteriously (?), I immediately responded and pressed it with a napkin. I found it popped with full of blood-, then I decided to report it the hotel mangement. I frankly took it lightly since it had happened to my guest with one bite wound, but i found several bites on myself at the newly switched room. I might have not noticed them myself at the very moment. I did express to them that we will pursur some legal guidance over the phone when I reported it as a seperate incident after few days later. All of us left the follwing morning around 4 am to come home to get ready to be at the prescheduled meeting on time. There were fiev of us such as: two couples and my mother who travelled together. EcoLab was dispatched immediately on the very night and they found the room positive of the existence of bugs. Am I making any sense to you? In fact, we are on our way to hand deliver the notarized release form with us today while spendig a weekend in the same hotel(?). I appreciate in advance for your personal attention and feedback whenever you can. My cell is 909-471-9369.
I here you miller. I have an actual bed bug case. This is a real story. The names have been left out to protect my clients. Look at the sheets before you climb into bed. If you see little black dots get the hell out.
By the way, I like your www. customfighters.com site!
Norm
Sandie I wish I could but it is an existing case in my office. If we are forced to file suit then it will be a matter of public record. However, at least for now, there is no judicial privilege and I could be sued for defamation if I named them.
They are a nationwide famous chain that is all I can say for now.
Sorry,
Norm
No.
I am a California attorney. You should consult with a Nevada Attorney about your case since the incident took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thanks for the heads up on the Luxor!!
Norm
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I don’t ordinarily allow these types of posts on the Biker Law Blog, but if it really helps get rid of bed bugs, have at it!
Norm