If you want to determine where to file a claim against Autograph Collection for bed bug injuries, you do not need to look any further than our law firm, the Bed Bug Legal Group. We field calls all day from individuals who were bitten by bed bugs in hotels across the country, and we have filed lawsuits against numerous establishments in pursuit of fair compensation for our clients. We know the best tactics and methods to use to gain success with your claim. Many hotels and managers are negligent and do not do everything in their power to clean rooms or preserve the safety of guests. Our law firm invites individuals who have been bitten by bed bugs to call our offices to get started on their bed bug lawsuit against Autograph Collection.
How to Identify Bed Bugs
It is important that you be able to identify bed bugs so that you can search all potential hotels and motels for infestations. If you have trouble identifying them, you may mistakenly believe that ticks or fleas are bed bugs. Of course, it is still an infestation if either of these creatures is overrunning a hotel room, but the damages could be very different, and the risks are also altered.
Bed bugs are very small and colored reddish-brown. They are flat-bodied and round, and they move by crawling, not jumping or flying. The bugs emit a distinct musty odor, so if you smell something off in your hotel room, it may indicate an infestation.
One key trait that bed bugs have is their hardiness. They are difficult to eradicate and equally as difficult to discover if they have recently feasted. The bugs do not need to constantly drink blood; if they are filled, they can retreat to their nests for weeks at a time, which may give off the indication that a hotel room is actually not infested.
For this reason, you could be taken by surprise when you awaken and find bites. The bites appear as raised red welts that may slightly itch; they are not instantaneous and can take a few hours or days before appearing. The bites will almost always happen at night, given that bed bugs are nocturnal and their saliva has specially evolved to aid in feasting during normal sleeping hours. The anesthetic quality of the saliva will mask the pain of the bite, but you could still feel the bugs crawling on you if you were awake. You may also feel the blood running, which would not stop because the bugs have an anti-clotting agent active in the saliva as well. This allows them to drink for a few minutes at a time. Bed bug bites appear as a zigzag pattern and are located on areas of exposed skin.
Thankfully, bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases even though they drink blood and can essentially move the fluid from person to person. The bites may trigger allergic reactions, however.
If you find yourself bitten by bed bugs while on vacation, you should take legal action. We can help you sue Autograph Collection for bed bugs.
Can I Sue Autograph Collection for Bed Bugs?
You can file an Autograph Collection bed bug lawsuit if you were affected by an infestation while staying at the hotel. The bed bugs may have caused you to throw out clothing, and if they went home with you, could have caused you to throw out furniture.
Can You Sue Autograph Collection for Bed Bug Bites?
You can sue Autograph Collection for bed bug bites because bed bug bites count as injuries. It is Autograph Collection Hotel bed bug policy and California State law that rooms meant for human inhabitation are not infested with vermin, bugs, filth, or other lacks of sanitation. Therefore, you will be able to file a personal injury claim against the hotel. This will be a premises liability suit.
In a premises liability claim, you must be able to show that you were owed a duty of care by the hotel and that it was violated, which led to an accident. Further, the property manager must have been guilty of one of the following issues:
- He knew about the bed bug infestation but did nothing to fix it or exterminate it
- He caused the infestation y bringing in used furniture or not cleaning the sheets or purchasing them secondhand
- He was not aware of the infestation but reasonably should have been if he had been diligent bout investigating or if his staff had been better trained
You will file a claim as an invitee, or a customer, instead of a licensee, or a social guest. As long as you were a paying guest, you would not be considered a trespasser, or someone with no legal right to be on the property.
For help determining how to file a lawsuit against Autograph Collection for bed bugs, you can read on.
Here Is How to File a Bed Bug Claim Against Autograph Collection
- Go to the doctor to get medical attention for your bites and to ensure that you are not allergic or afflicted with anything else
- Make copies of the medical notes and hold on to any receipts or statements from the hospital showing you visited and paid for treatment
- Go to the hotel room to take pictures of the bed bugs or evidence of them (like eggs, exoskeletons, mounds, and blood stains); you should search the most prominent areas, like behind electrical outlets and picture frames, in mattress folds and couch cushions, below baseboards and bed frames, underneath rugs and carpets, and more
- Photograph your injuries to showcase the extent of the bites
- Do not alert the hotel to the infestation until after you have gathered your proof, as the manager will likely remove you from the room, quarantine it, and clean it (or pretend to) so that you cannot acquire enough evidence
- File an incident report with the hotel to alert them of the infestation, and hold on to a copy of your statement
- Print out any records showing you paid for the room
- Ask other guests or cleaning staff for their testimonies if they can give you any insight or proof that they too saw bed bugs or were affected by the infestation in another room or part of the hotel
- Refuse any compensation, free rooms and stays, discounts, and promos from the hotel manager, as doing so can greatly damage your claim
- Contact a lawyer with experience in Autograph Collection bed bug lawsuits who can walk you through the legal process and represent you against the insurance company
Value of a Bed Bug Lawsuit against Autograph Collection
The value of your claim against the hotel will be largely determined by the insurance agent responsible for your case. He will look at the level of injuries you suffered and determine how much of an impact the infestation and incident hand on your life and career. Although the injuries may not have been enough to paralyze you, you should still be given fair compensation. However, insurance agents wants to pay as little as possible, and it should come as no surprise if you receive a small offer at first. We will negotiate a better deal for you.
The typical hotel bed bug settlement may not fetch more than $10,000, but the biggest bed bug lawsuit settlements will exceed $1,000,000. This is most common in situations where infestations affect whole families and numerous guests.
The Autograph Collection bed bug compensation you can receive can include the following:
- Medical bills from the past and future
- Missed wages from the past and future
- Property damage for items that were lost or needed to be thrown out after the infestation
- Extermination fees and reimbursement of vacation costs
- Pain and suffering damages for emotional trauma and psychological anguish
Our goal is to win you the maximum settlement available under the law. If you need to know how to report a bed bug in a hotel and file a claim for damages, call our firm today.
The Firm for You
The Bed Bug Legal Group has a team of experienced lawyers for Autograph Collection bed bug lawsuits. You will not have to worry about where to file a claim for bed bug bites while staying at a Autograph Collection – we will take care of the whole legal process for you and will ensure that you are safe and sound throughout the endeavor. Our aggressive lawyers have a long history of winning bed bug claims against hotels, and Autograph Collection is no different.
Call our firm today for a free legal consultation with an expert lawyer. We will talk with you about the contents of your case and what you may be able to win. We will also give you details on how the legal process works.
If you hire us to represent you, we will give you our zero fee guarantee, which says that you won’t have to pay a dime for our help. We won’t get paid unless and until we win, and the money will be taken as a part of the settlement we bring to you from the insurance agency.
For the best bed bug lawyers around, contact the Bed Bug Legal Group today.
100% FREE CONSULTATION