Common law presumes a tenant’s right to habitable premises. Habitable generally means the landlord must:
In every personal injury case – regardless of whether it arises out of a car accident, a construction site mishap, or a fall down stairs, valuation is an important step of the investigative process that helps prepare a case to be filed and tried. Valuation refers to the process of assigning a dollar figure to the case that represents the total amount of harm suffered by the victims. It is, in other words, the case’s “worth.”
The Importance of Proper Valuation in Bed Bug Cases
Valuation is key: Without an accurate understanding of the case’s worth, the victim in the case will have a hard time determining whether a proposed settlement agreement adequately compensates the victim for his or her injuries and should be accepted. Moreover, if the valuation process is not completed correctly, then the amounts of compensation requested by the victim for this loss or that expense may be quite difficult to prove.
A husband and wife visiting a Phoenix Wal-Mart store found more than they were looking for: bed bugs. The problem began when the husband (who had an injury to his toe) sat down in one of the store’s motorized carts that are made available for guests with mobility challenges. As the couple shopped, the husband began to complain of his back itching. When the man stopped by the restroom and got up from the cart, the couple noticed that the seat of the cart where the man was sitting was infested with bed bugs and that the man’s back was covered in bites. The company indicated it took prompt action upon learning of the infestation, including removing the vinyl covers from its motorized carts for cleaning.
Retail Stores’ Liability for Bed Bug Infestations
Although many individuals associate bed bug infestations with mattresses and bedding materials for obvious reasons, bed bugs can be found in other locations and materials as well. It is not just homes, apartments, and hotels that need to worry about bed bug infestations. Bed bugs have been found inside books, behind wallpaper, and even in hospitals and laundromats. While finding bed bugs inside the seat of a motorized cart at a retail establishment may be unsettling, it is certainly not out of the ordinary.
It’s summer and many peopl
e are anticipating an upcoming vacation. As you think about everything you want to do on your trip, remember one thing you definitely do not want to do – encounter a hotel bed bug infestation or run into the pests elsewhere during your travels. Bed bugs in hotels, transit vehicles, and travel destinations can ruin your vacation by causing itchy red bites. Worse still, they may also try to hitch a ride with you and infest your home causing trouble long after your trip. Our Oakland bed bug lawyer wants to help you avoid these nasty pests and is also here to help if they turn your dream trip into a nightmare.
A Bit of Bed Bug History
Bed bugs are not a new problem, but they have made a resurgence in the past decade. In a 2010 article titled They’re Back: A Bed Bug History, a History.com reporter notes that bed bugs appear to have been plaguing people for millennia. There is evidence of bed bug problems on 17th Century ships bound for the Americas and archaeologists found fossilized bed bugs at a site in Egypt dating back some 3,550 years. Still, there has been a notable resurgence in the number of bed bug infestations over the past decade.
Many of us have, at one time or another, been told to develop a “thicker skin.” In colloquial usage, this generally means one should be less sensitive to criticism or other negative words. However, it turns out that in the world of bed bugs a thicker skin is a very real physical trait and one that makes the pests even tougher to eradicate. This is important news. Our San Francisco tenant’s lawyer believes landlords in particular should be paying attention because landlords can and should be held responsible when their failure to take appropriate action leaves residents suffering and prolongs a bed bug infestation in the Bay Area.
Bed Bugs Deve
loping Resistance to Certain Insecticides
This week, CNN reported that researchers in Australia found that bedbugs have begun to develop thicker skins that allow them to survive certain bug sprays. Bed bugs are parasites that feed on human blood and they have made a major resurgence in recent decades. Researchers believe the pests are only growing stronger and more resistant to certain treatments. In the recent study, researchers found that bed bugs that had a thicker natural covering were more likely to survive certain insecticides. The scientists hope that this research helps in the continued effort to “spot a chink in their armour” and develop more effective treatments.
Nothing can ruin a holiday vacation more than staying at a hotel infested by bed bugs. It is a nightmare that can last for weeks and affect your entire family. Rashes and illness are a common consequence. If you have come into contact with bed bugs you should know your legal rights.
Basic Facts
Bed bugs are tiny insects that live by feeding off the blood of warm blooded animals-with a strong preference for humans. They feed and are mostly active at night and prefer living in tight confined spaces and make their homes on wood, paper and fabric. They stick to clothes, luggage and can spread from person to person. Bed bugs can survive almost 12 months without feeding, and females lay up to 5 eggs per day. Their bites often result in red marks on the host. However, not all victims have a reaction to bed bug bites. Abhorrent as they are bed bugs are not thought to spread disease.
At The Brod Law Firm, we believe in partnering with experts in everything from accident reconstruction to physical rehabilitation in order to help our clients. It appears that we have a new set of partners in our work as your San Francisco bed bug infestation law firm – and they have four legs. Given the ever-rising number of bed bug infestations in our region, we’ll take the help!
Pest Control Company Uses Trained Dogs to Sniff Out Bed Bugs in the Bay Area
KRON reports that one local pest control company has turned to specially trained dogs to help sniff out bed bug infestations in the Bay Area. A representative from Round-the-Clock Pest Control told reporters that they are using bed bug sniffing beagles to find the troublesome pests. The dogs are specially trained to smell live bed bugs and then scratch to alert their handlers when they find them.
Sometimes the smallest foes are the toughest to battle. Bedbugs are a great example of this truth. Bedbugs can cause painful itching that can feel like torture to individuals sensitive to their bites. Bedbugs are mobile, hitching a ride from one place to another and quickly making themselves at home in residences, offices, even libraries. They are tough to eradicate, typically requiring professional intervention, and repeat infestations can occur. Attorney Greg Brod, a San Francisco bed bug lawyer, helps bed bug victims when infestations are caused or exacerbated by a person’s/entity’s negligence. Today’s post focuses on bedbugs in hotels, a problem that can cause extreme discomfort and can lead to additional infestations in the victim’s home or place of business.
California Man Says Hotel Bedbugs Turned Dream Vacation into a Nightmare
One California couple says they learned the hard way about bedbugs in hotel rooms. SFGate.com reported on the incident and shared a video that may make viewers’ skin crawl. In the clip, the Long Beach man flips over a mattress to reveal numerous small, scurrying bugs. The man told the press that he and his girlfriend had been splurging on a $400-per-night room in New York’s Central Park to celebrate New Year’s Eve and a milestone birthday when they encountered the pests. The video also shows the girlfriend’s body, covered in a rash and more than 75 bites allegedly incurred during the stay including marks on her arms, stomach, fingers, and toes.
Bed bugs continue to plague people across the nation and here in Northern California. While their bites can cause substantial suffering, ultimately it is hard to blame the bugs themselves; they are just doing what nature tells them to do. However, far too frequently, people exacerbate the problem and cause, worsen, or prolong infestations through their actions or, often, their inaction. Attorney Greg Brod, a Northern California bed bug lawyer based in San Francisco, fights for people who have suffered with the pests because of someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. As a recent story reminds us, far too often it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most. A bed bug lawsuit can ensure their stories are heard and their situation remedied.
Low-Income, Elderly Residents Report Bed Bug Infestation in Stockton
Late last month, The Record reported the story of a bed bug infestation at one of the most recognizable buildings in Stockton. The Hotel Stockton provides housing to low-income residents, including many seniors coping with disabling health problems. Revamped in 2004 and currently owned by a private partnership headquartered in Sacramento, the Hotel long-served as a key gathering place for residents of the North-Central California city and even held municipal offices for a time.
Just the name can make your skin crawl, but clients tell us the reality is far worse than they ever could have imagined. Bed bugs fall in and out of the headlines, but they remain a very real problem impacting Californians. The pests do not discriminate, attacking people of all ages, races, classes, and creeds. In fact, as a recent news report illustrates, they aren’t even confined to beds! As a bed bug law firm in San Francisco, Oakland, and Santa Rosa, The Brod Law Firm helps people who are afflicted with these pests because of someone else’s neglect, such as a tenant coping with repeated infestations because a landlord fails to act responsibly, ignoring the problem entirely or taking ineffective, limited action rather than the swift intervention needed to eradicate the bugs for good.
Bed Bugs Cause Temporary Closure of Palo Alto Library
Last week, per NBC Bay Area, Palo Alto temporarily shuttered one of its public libraries because of a problem more often associated with housing than libraries – bed bugs. In addition to closing the Mitchell Park Library to treat the pests after they were spotted on two chairs, the city sent bed bug-sniffing dogs to other branches of the library system. As NBC noted, libraries are actually not unusual spot for bed bugs to hide. The pests hitch a ride on a borrowed book, moving from one home to the library and potentially the home of another patron. Increased travel, pesticide resistance, and the use of ineffective pest control practices have all been implicated in the recent spike in infestations. Contra Costa Health Services denied a rumor blaming the homeless for the library infestation, noting there is no link between cleanliness and the pests although clutter does allow an infestation to grow.
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