Travelodge Hotels are common locations for travelers to stay while on vacation or while passing through a town. The hotels may have a large cleaning crew responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the establishment, and maintenance should ensure that everything at the hotel is in working order. However, sometimes the crews do not do their jobs well and do not investigate rooms or follow through on claims from guests. The hotel managers may echo these actions and also ignore any statements regarding defects or potential infestations. Bed bug infestations are quite common in hotels, and if you were at a Travelodge that was infested, you could have been bitten. This would allow you to file a Travelodge Hotel bed bug lawsuit.
What are bed bugs?
Bed bugs are small insects that are flat and round-bodied, reddish-brown in color, and only a few millimeters in length. They are nocturnal and do not often make themselves apparent to their victims, which are humans. The bugs feast on human blood at night time and can do so fairly uninterrupted. Their saliva has an anesthetic in it that prevents you from waking up during the bite, and they can freely drink your blood thanks to the anticoagulant present in their saliva that prevents clotting.
Where do bed bugs stay?
Bed bugs will stay anywhere there are people, but they are most often founds in hotels, motels, apartment complexes, and mass transportation. This is because of the high turnover rate of individuals and the likelihood for them to bring luggage that may be infested.
Bed bugs like to make their nests near where their victims sleep. They can only crawl, so they prefer to be near their victims when it comes time to feed. The bugs can be found in any damp or dark place that has limited light exposure.
What happens when a bed bug bites you?
When a bed bug bites you, you will not wake up for the reasons listed above. The bugs will generally target exposed skin and move along in a zigzag pattern until they have drunk their fill before they retreat back to their nests. You may wake up with no sign of bites, which can cause people to be completely unaware of the infestation. As the hours or days go on, though, the bites may appear. Thankfully, bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases despite being blood-drinkers. The worst that will happen to most people is an infection or a development of sores. However, in some instances, allergic reactions can happen,
Can I Sue Travelodge Hotel for Bed Bugs?
You can sue Travelodge Hotel for bed bugs if the bed bugs caused you some kind of loss. In some cases, you may simply track the bed bugs home with you an suffer an infestation. This could require you to hire exterminators and fumigators to clean your home, and you may have to throw out furniture and clothing. You could sue Travelodge Hotel for bed bugs and receive reimbursement for these fees.
Can You Sue Travelodge Hotel for Bed Bug Bites?
You can file a bed bug lawsuit against Travelodge Hotel if you were bitten. This will be a personal injury claim because the bites will have caused you some kind of physical harm. The bites may send you to the hospital for treatment and may result in extreme discomfort, especially if you suffered numerous bites.
What Is The Law Regarding Bed Bugs?
According to California law, all apartments, hotels, and other dwellings that are meant to house other individuals must be fit for human occupancy. They must be free from vermin and filth and must not have any hazards present that can harm the guests. The Travelodge Hotel bed bug policy is simple in that there should be no infestation present. You can take legal action according to the law.
Here Is How to File a Bed Bug Claim Against Travelodge Hotel
- First, you should go to the hospital to get treatment for the bed bug bites to ensure that there are no infections or reactions that are extremely adverse. You should hold on to the medical records and receipts to show that you received treatment.
- You should make copies of your credit card statement or receipts showing that you were a customer at the Travelodge Hotel.
- You will need to take pictures of the bed bug bites and the bed bugs themselves. You can hunt for the bugs in the hotel room by looking under the bed frame, behind the head board, underneath the baseboard, behind picture frames and photographs, behind electrical outlets, underneath carpets and rugs, underneath drawers and tables, inside upholstery and chairs, and more.
- You should then go to the hotel manager and file an incident report and request how to report a bed bug in a hotel. It is important that you do not do this before you gather you evidence, though. If you alert the manager to the presence of bed bugs before you take your pictures, you run the risk of losing all proof – the room will be quarantined and you will be unable to go back in.
- Do not accept any free rooms or discounts from the hotel. Doing so can hurt your Travelodge Hotel bed bug compensation. The manager will claim that you were already compensated and that you do not need additional damages.
- Call an attorney who can tell you How to file a lawsuit against Travelodge Hotel for bed bugs. You should not try to handle the claim by yourself, as you may not have the necessary experience required to win your claim.
What Is The Typical Hotel Bed Bug Settlement?
The biggest bed bug lawsuit settlements may be upwards of $100,000, if not more if numerous reactions happened or the hotel were especially negligent. However, in reality, many claims are settled for less than $10,000. The value of a bed bug lawsuit depends on the extent of your injuries and losses. If the bug bites were seriously harming and the infestation carried over to your home and caused you to have to throw out furniture and hire professionals to clean it, those damages can all be reimbursed and would be considered by the insurance agent.
The insurance agent for the hotel will likely not want to pay out a large settlement, though, and will do all he can to diminish the value of your case. This is why it is crucial that you have a lawyer with experience in Travelodge Hotel bed bug lawsuits.
Our experienced lawyers for Travelodge Hotel bed bug lawsuits will make sure to win you the following forms of compensation for your claim:
- Medical expenses for any treatments you received because of the bites
- Property damage for any personal belongings and items that were damaged or needed to be replaced because of the infestations
- Fumigation and extermination costs
- Fees to stay in another hotel if your home were compromised
- Travel fees
- Lost income from your job because you could not go to work due to a lack of transportation or because of your injuries
- Future medical expenses
- Future lost wages
- Pain and suffering damages to cover emotional trauma and psychological anguish
If you do not know where to file a claim for bed bug bites while staying at a Travelodge Hotel, call our firm today.
Statute of Limitations to File a Bed Bug Claim
Bed bug lawsuits are forms of personal injury claims. Therefore, under California State law, you have 2 years from the date of the injury to take legal action. If you do not file a lawsuit within this 2-year window, you will be unable to sue and receive compensation thereafter. The sooner you file a claim, the more likely it is that all of your evidence will remain intact and will not be lost or misplaced.
There are some exceptions to the statute of limitations, such as in instances where you were under the age of 18 years old. Minors do not need to adhere to the statute of limitations and can only legally sue once they turn 18. Further, the defendant may have left the state, which would suspend the statute of limitations until he returns.
A big part of the reason that many claims are never filed and victims are not given the compensation they deserve is because they miss the deadline. They may not know there is a deadline at all or that it is so soon after the incident. To guarantee that you do not miss the deadline for your case, call our law firm for more assistance. We will ensure that your claim is filed within the proper time limit.
Our Firm
The Bed Bug Legal Group can tell you where to file a claim against Travelodge Hotel for bed bug injuries and will gladly litigate your case for you. We know the best methods to success and will not stop pursuing your rightful compensation until we are satisfied with the end result. If we need to go to court to win your case, our aggressive lawyers are willing to do so. You should always look to hire an attorney who has experience with bed bug lawsuits.
Call our offices today for a free legal consultation. We can discuss your claim with you and talk you through the legal process. We will tell you what to expect and will tell you what we believe we can win for your settlement. If you wish to hire us, we will give you our zero fee guarantee, which is a contingency system that prevents you from paying any fees at all out of pocket for our services. We will only get paid if we win and the money will come from the settlement from the hotel. If we lose, we take no payment at all.
To sue Travelodge for bed bug bites, get in touch with the Bed Bug Legal Group today.