Anytime you travel somewhere that is frequented by many people, you run the risk of having pests latch onto your luggage to hitch a ride back to your home, or you may be affected by an incident while staying out. No matter what the situation, you should treat the incident as a breach of negligence and pursue legal action against the liable entity. Handling a bed bug infestation can be frustrating, and seeking legal compensation afterward from the responsible party can be confusing and even more irritating. For this reason, it recommended that you seek legal assistance from a trusted law firm like the Bed Bug Legal Group. Our expert attorneys can help you through your lawsuit and are qualified to bring you the fairest settlement possible. If you are in need of a bed bug lawyer in Riverside / Riverside County / Corona / Moreno Valley, reach out to our law offices.
What are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are pests that feast on human blood, often at night when you are asleep. It is commonly thought that they are found in dirty places, like low quality motels or motor lodges, but that is not necessarily true. Bed bugs can be transferred from one place to another with relative ease, and the condition of the location does not inherently dictate whether or not bed bugs will be present. However, it is far likelier due to the fact that the property manager probably does not exert as much care over cleaning the areas.
Here are some need-to-know facts about bed bugs:
- They are small, only about 1.5 to 5mm long, and have flat, round bodies that get engorged once they have feasted on blood.
- Their saliva contains both an anesthetic and an anticoagulant, which means you do not feel the bites when they happen and your blood does not clot as it is being drunk, allowing the pests to drink undisturbed for a few minutes at a time.
- Bed bug bites may not show up on your body for a few days, but once they do, they take on small, inflamed welts that may itch or grow irritated. They follow a zigzag pattern.
- The creatures do not transmit diseases despite being blood drinkers, but their bites can become infected if you scratch them.
- Although many people mistake them for fleas, they are easily told apart by observing their movements. Bed bugs can only crawl from one spot to another and lack the ability to jump.
- Female bed bugs do not lay more than 2-4 eggs per day, and only a few hundred during her lifespan, so they do no reproduce and spread as quickly as other pests, like lice and fleas.
- Bed bugs can last weeks or even months without feeding; as a result, their hardiness can make it extremely difficult to detect an infestation and attribute it to the proper cause. An infestation may have lain dormant for some time but only became apparent once you became settled in.
The first step to taking legal action is determining the type of infestation you have. Once you have figured out that it is bed bugs, your next step should be finding the nests. They like to make their nests in dark areas that do not get a lot of light or heat, so check the damp spots in the rooms, such as underneath sofa cushions, behind baseboards, in the creases of mattresses, inside pillowcases, behind electrical outlets and picture frames, and more. Their nests will have small cream-colored eggs nearby as well as the discarded skins of juvenile bed bugs. You should also check the areas where you sleep’ there may be droppings in the form of black or brown mounds or bloodstains on the sheets.
If you find bed bugs while out at a hotel or a similar location, call a bed bug lawyer in Riverside / Riverside County / Corona / Moreno Valley today.
Negligence
In many cases of bed bug bites, you are able to take legal action against the responsible party. The property owner has a duty to protect visitors and a violation of that safety code can lead to severe consequences.
In order for you to file a claim, you must be able to prove four points of negligence. These points will establish that you were not the cause of the incident and that another person’s actions were the determining factor.
- You must have been owed a duty of care. As a visitor in a hotel or motel, purchaser of used furniture, or prospective tenant in an apartment, you are owed protection and care from the person you are exchanging services with. This means no health code violations or presence of bed bugs in your dwelling.
- The duty of care must have been breached, which can be caused by a hotel manager choosing not to properly clean a room after it has been occupied or a used furniture store supervisor not requesting that a piece of newly-acquired furniture be fumigated before resale.
- The breach of duty must have caused an incident of some kind; in this case, a bed bug infestation and bites from the pests.
- The incident must have resulted in physical harm. Bed bug bites are examples of physical harm that can worsen if they are scratched. Even minor physical injuries can be the basis of a personal injury lawsuit, which will allow you to recover other damages as well.
With the help of a bed bug lawyer in Riverside / Riverside County / Corona / Moreno Valley, you could prove these four points of negligence and be on your way to a fair settlement.
Procedure after Being Bitten
After being bitten by bed bugs, you need to do all you can to acquire and preserve as much evidence as you can. No matter where you were when the incident happened, you should take photos of the area and any bed bugs or nests that you find. We know it can be hard to do this quickly, if at all, given that not all bed bug bites show up right away; sometimes, the incident may have happened on a bus or a train and finding the same car or vehicle again could be impossible. Further, if you were in a hotel at the time of the incident, you may be ushered out of your room as soon as you alerted management and were denied reentry, which can put a damper on your plans to take pictures and videos. A good rule of thumb is to not alert any party until you have already gathered evidence so that the evidence cannot be destroyed or kept from you.
You should also photograph your injuries and any damages that sprang up at your home. If you had to get anything fumigated or replaced, you should keep your receipts and documents stating that the transaction occurred.
You may not be owed anything by someone like a landlord, for instance, if you were already moved into the home and the infestation occurred. The landlord must have negligently overlooked or chosen not to fix the infestation prior to you moving in; anything that is detected afterward and cannot be contributed to the landlord thus cannot be covered by him.
Most importantly, you should seek the assistance of an experienced bed bug lawyer Riverside / Riverside County / Corona / Moreno Valley. You may be too overcome with fixing your home and enduring the effects of the infestation to focus on a lawsuit. Moreover, you only have two years to file a personal injury claim; for this reason, it is important that you defer to a qualified legal team who is more than capable of handling your case.
Restitution for Your Bites
With the help of our top-rated attorneys, you can receive coverage for numerous damages. You should not be expected to have to pay for your injuries and losses if you were not responsible for the bed bug infestation. The liable party can cover your medical expenses, lost wages, damaged property, pain and suffering, and more.
You will have a better chance of winning a hefty settlement if you enlist the help of an attorney. We have years of experience and knowledge that can come in handy and directly influence the offer you receive.
How We Help You
Our law firm, the Bed Bug Legal Group, has been practicing law for dozens of years, and our experienced attorneys are well acquainted with bed bug lawsuits. We have made it our area of expertise, and we want to do nothing more than keep you safe and bring you the settlement you deserve. We will aggressively work to secure you a fair settlement, and if we are not happy with what the insurance agent is offering, we are willing to take your case before a jury in court. We believe in fighting for your rights and not settling unless we feel it is worthwhile.
Call us today to set up a free legal consultation with one of our top attorneys. You can learn more about bed bug lawsuits and what the legal process is like, and we will look over your case and tell you what we believe we can earn for you We will also give you more information on our zero fee guarantee, which promises that you will not have to use any of your own expenses for our services. Our bills will only get paid if we win, with the money coming from the settlement we win for you, so the insurance agency is responsible for your legal fees. If we lose, you owe us nothing at all, and we eat the costs of the case while you walk away off the hook.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with an expert bed bug lawyer Riverside / Riverside County / Corona / Moreno Valley today.
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