Courtyard – a subsidiary of Marriott – is an extremely popular hotel chain. However, hotels like Courtyard and other Marriott brands experience bed bug infestations in some of their guest rooms as do all other hotels. Because of this, guests may not know that their room was recently treated for bed bugs and may walk blindly into dangers that the hotel should have warned them about and eliminated. Visit our results page to read how our law firm has helped real victims of bed bug injuries.
If you stayed at a Courtyard Marriott hotel that failed to eliminate bed bugs from your room and you faced bed bug bites and other effects of a bed bug infestation, call Whitney, LLP today. Our Courtyard hotel bed bug injury attorneys represent the victims of bed bug bites at hotels in Maryland. For a free legal consultation, call to speak with our lawyers today at (410) 583-8000.
Damages for Bed Bug Bites and Injuries
The core injury that you face from contact with bed bugs is their bites. Bed bugs, like mosquitos or fleas, drink blood and bite their victims to get to it. If you stay in a hotel room that has a bed bug infestation in its bed, you could wake up to find dozens or hundreds of bites.
Bed bugs rarely carry diseases, but it is possible that they could transmit diseases to you that could cause more harm to your health. Allergic reactions to bed bug bites often occur after a hotel guest is badly bitten. More commonly, these bites may become infected which could lead to additional pain and itching and require additional medical attention.
Bed bug bites are an extremely upsetting injury. The bite sites can be extremely itchy and painful and can cause immense physical and mental suffering from the injury. Many states allow you to claim compensation for injuries and the mental or emotional trauma and pain that comes with them even if the physical injuries are not particularly severe. These “pain and suffering” damages vary greatly depending on how severe the infestation was, how severe the bites were, and how severe the other effects of the injury are.
These damages can usually be supplemented by other compensation for the property damage and other harms you faced. A bed bug infestation often means you need to throw out clothing or luggage that may have been affected at the hotel room. If the infestation came home with you on your clothes or on your person, you may suffer additional property damage at home to your bed, furniture, clothes, carpets, drapes, and other fabric items. These damages should all be compensated by a negligent hotel chain.
Holding Courtyard Hotels Liable for Beg Bug Infestations
When you stay at a hotel, they have a duty to keep the room safe and clean for you. This duty is breached entirely if hotel staff fails to spot a bed bug infestation they should have detected or allows you to stay in a room that they knew had bed bugs. Even the other rooms adjacent to an infested room may be at risk, and hotels should not rent these rooms until they can be thoroughly cleaned and treated as well.
These errors go against the reasonable behaviors of a typical hotel and can lead to compensation. Other laws in your state or the town where the hotel was located may create additional requirements for the hotel, and breaching these duties can also put the hotel at fault for the infestation and its effects.
Hotels, especially large chains, often employ strong legal teams and insurance companies to fight cases against them. This means that your case may be shut down or delayed from the beginning, and you may need the help of an attorney to get the compensation you deserve. If the hotel offers a low settlement that fails to cover your needs or if it constantly denies and delays your claim, your best option to get compensation may be to sue the hotel in a court of law. Our attorneys can help you fight your case and get the compensation you deserve.
Proving a Bed Bug Bite Injury Case
One of the best ways to win your case is to provide overwhelming evidence of the hotel’s negligence. Many of the elements of this negligence will come during the “discovery” stage of the case where you can ask for business records and depositions from witnesses and hotel staff. This can help you build evidence of when and how the room was cleaned of bed bugs, whether other rooms were infested, and how the hotel staff failed to keep you safe.
There is other evidence that you can gather on your own to help with your case. Immediately after discovering your injury, you should do what you can to try to search the room for bed bugs. Check the stitching and lining of the mattress and other furniture. Also, look in other places such as fabric headboards, carpets, drapes, and other surfaces near where people sleep.
If you discover bed bugs, take pictures. Also collect samples of the bed bugs if you can by keeping them in a baggie or a bottle. If you have bites on your body, take pictures of these immediately and seek medical attention to build a record of the injuries you faced. Talk to a lawyer about how to proceed and what other evidence you can use in your case.
Call Our Courtyard Hotel Bed Bug Injury Lawyers for a Free Legal Consultation
If you or your family were injured during a stay in a Courtyard hotel because of a bed bug infestation that the hotel should have stopped and warned you about, contact our Courtyard Marriott bed bug injury attorneys today. Our lawyers represent bed bug injury victims and fight to get them compensation for the pain and other harms they suffered. For a free legal consultation on your case, call Whitney, LLP today at (410) 583-8000.
We represent clients across Maryland including in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, Carroll County, Charles County and Worcester County