A lawsuit filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court earlier this week claims a family of six suffered personal injury and monetary damages due to a bed bug infestation they encountered while staying at Surestay Plus by Best Western hotel located at 15 Lawless Road in Morgantown.
The suit, filed on behalf of the family by attorney David A. Sims, names the hotel along with 20 “Does” as defendants. The Does, the document explains, are agents or employees of the hotel whose identities and capacities are currently unknown, but had some responsibility for the injuries and damage to the family.
According to the facts and allegations listed in the suit, the family checked into the hotel on Aug. 26, 2020. When they woke up on Aug. 27, 2020, they “all woke up with bites” and “had been bitten over 100 times.”
They claim the “entire family was suffering from itching, swelling, pain, and burning” and they immediately showed the front desk and notified hotel management.
After being seen at an urgent care, they were told they were victims of a bed bug infestation in the defendant’s hotel and given topical treatments and steroids for the burning and itching, the suit said.
After suffering for 3-to-4 weeks with pain, itching, and swelling from the bites, the suit says they were all left with scarring and incurred various expenses, including medical costs, the cost of the hotel room, replacement of luggage and clothing, along with other belongings exposed to the bed bugs at the hotel.
The suit claims the hotel was negligent in its duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation and maintenance of the hotel to be in a safe and habitable condition, free from insect infestations.
The plaintiffs say the hotel breached this duty allowing a bed bug infestation, failing to eradicate a prior and ongoing infestation, choosing not to ensure the room was free from infestation, failing to require housekeeping staff to change bed linens regularly, and failing to notify the family of the presence of bed bugs and their limited efforts to inspect the room.
The lawsuit also claims the hotel was negligent per se in that “based on common law, hotel managers are responsible for promoting guest safety, including keeping the premises clean and fumigating or exterminating whenever an infestation occurs.”
The family alleges the hotel also intentionally inflicted emotional distress by their willful disregard of a known bed bug infestation, their deliberate choice to not notify the family, and their choice to not take care of the bug problem, which caused them to sustain severe, serious, and permanent injuries.
The plaintiffs are asking the court for general and specific damages, as well as punitive damages, court and attorney fees, and any other relief the court deems just. The specific amount of damages is to be determined at trial.
Shawna Reed, Regional Director of Operations for Millenium Hospitality, who manages the Surestay Plus, said exterminators come to the property regularly, but did not return requests for comment on the specific allegations of the lawsuit.
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