If you discovered bed bugs in your Richmond or Petersburg home, apartment or hotel room or if bed bugs hitched a ride to your home, you are not alone. Bed bugs have the ability to cause significant monetary and non-monetary losses for victims affected by bed bugs due to the negligence of property owners, landlords, hotels and workplaces.
If you think you have a bed bug case, contact the bed bug lawyer for a free consultation to discuss your pre-litigation bed bug case representation.
How do I know if I have bed bugs in my Richmond home or apartment?
Bed bugs have a knack for hiding. Check under the mattress, the bed frame and headboard. Look along baseboards, upholstered furniture, and electrical faceplate covers, behind pictures or clocks on the walls.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services points out that bed bugs aggregate and that if you discover an aggregation in your Richmond residence or hotel, you likely discover live bed bugs in multiple life cycle stages, live and hatched eggs, cast skins and fecal spots.
How did I get bed bugs in my Petersburg home, apartment or hotel room?
Bed bugs typically feed every five to seven days. However, they have the ability to go for longer periods without feeding. Therefore, although you just purchased a home in Petersburg, just moved into an apartment in Petersburg or just checked into a hotel room, it is entirely possible that a bed bug infestation already exists.
Because bed bugs hide to avoid detection, you may not see them when you check into your hotel or move in to your new residence. Many people do not realize there is a bed bug infestation until suffering bed bug bites or actually discovering the bed bugs during a close inspection.
Bed bugs easily hitchhike in your luggage or other personal belongings when you check out of your Petersburg area hotel room. They ride along with you and you learn all too late that you now have a bed bug infestation in your Petersburg home or apartment.
Can I get sick when bitten by bed bugs in Richmond?
Bed bugs carry and transmit diseases, making them pathogen-carrying vectors, with significant consequences. Penn Medicine researchers discovered that bed bugs carry and can transmit “Trypanosomacruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in the Americas.”
There are an estimated 300,000 cases of Chagas Disease in the United States. As many as 50,000 people die from Chagas Disease on an annual basis.
Will I get sick after suffering bed bug bites in Petersburg?
In addition to Penn Medicine researchers discovering that bed bugs carry and transmit the parasite causing Chagas Disease, the American Academy of Dermatology points out that people bitten by bed bugs potentially suffer a swollen tongue, blisters, an irregular heartbeat and “It is possible to develop a serious or even life-threatening reaction to bedbug bites.”
When people suffer medical consequences and expenses from bed bug bites, this is one example of monetary damages potentially recoverable with bed bug case representation.
Can I recover damages in my Richmond bed bug case?
If you discover bed bugs or sustain bites after moving into a Richmond home or apartment or after staying at a Richmond hotel, your pre-litigation bed bug attorney provides case representation for you in an attempt to recover damages suffered due to the negligence of others. Landlords, property owners and hotels have a responsibility to protect residents and guests from bed bugs. When they fail to do so, victims potentially recover both monetary and non-monetary damages.
Monetary damages are actual costs such as medical expenses and prescriptions, professional extermination, the cost of breaking a lease and moving. Non-monetary damages include pain and suffering, embarrassment, emotional and psychological damage caused by the Richmond bed bug infestation.
What kind of damages can I recover in a Petersburg bed bug case?
Expenses such as over-the-counter and prescription medications, travel to medical appointments, medical costs, professional carpet cleaning and replacement costs represent monetary damages for your Petersburg bed bug case.
Non-monetary damages include the stress on your personal and professional relationships, fear of falling asleep, current and future pain and suffering.
Should I hire a bed bug injury attorney in Richmond or Petersburg to sue a hotel?
If you have suffered monetary or non-monetary damages because of a bed bug bite infestation in a hotel or other type of location, you may be able to recover from the management if negligence is behind it. Our office handles Richmond and Petersburg bed bug cases on a pre-litigation basis. An experienced and knowledgeable pre-litigation bed bug bite attorney in Richmond or Petersburg can help you determine if you have a case and work with you to seek compensation.
Contact the pre-litigation Richmond and Petersburg bed bug attorneys at Bed Bug Injury Law to schedule your free consultation to discuss your potential bed bug case representation.