If you suffered a bed bug infestation due to a negligent landlord or property owner or when staying in a St. Louis hotel, you likely need St. Louis bed bug lawyers to help you with your bed bug case. The St. Louis bed bug attorney has expertise to help you recover damages, potentially including an array of monetary and non-monetary damages on a pre-litigation basis.
Dangers of having bed bugs in St. Louis
It is potentially easy to assume that bed bugs are simply a “Nuisance” as some sites claim. However, extensive research proves that bed bugs are indeed pathogen-carrying vectors of disease.
Researchers at Penn Medicine, along with colleagues in Peru discovered that bed bugs carry and transmit deadly Chagas Disease, which kills up to 50,000 people annually. Additionally, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) points to a list of possibly “Serious and life-threatening reactions to bedbug bites,” including
- Difficulty breathing
- Rapid heartbeat
- Swollen tongue
- Infection caused from scratching severely itchy bed bug bites
- Allergic reaction
How to determine if you have bed bugs in St. Louis
Even if you did not see bed bugs at your St. Louis hotel room, that does not mean there were no bed bugs. People often bring bed bugs home after their St. Louis hotel stay and subsequently suffer a bed bug infestation, resulting in extensive monetary and non-monetary damages.
Tenants and new homeowners moving into a new St. Louis area residence sometimes discover too late that the property has a bed bug infestation.
Discovering bed bugs in your suitcase or personal belongings is a key indicator that bed bugs hitchhiked home with you after you left your hotel.
Checking for bed bugs in upholstered furniture and in crevices of wood furniture, along baseboards and pictures on walls often reveals telltale signs of a bed bug infestation.
Your rights regarding a St. Louis bed bug infestation
Unfortunately, hotel owners, landlords and property owners sometimes fail to take preventative measures to prevent bed bugs and fail to take aggressive action to rid a property of bed bugs. However, that does not mean you have to suffer the consequences.
Bed bug laws are very clear in the State of Missouri. In fact, Missouri HOUSE BILL NO. 1849 expanded the law, further protecting you from negligent hotel owners, landlords and property owners.
The law specifically states that landlords “Shall use reasonable efforts to maintain the dwelling unit free of an infestation of bed bugs,” and that if a landlord fails to act, “The tenant shall not be liable to the landlord…for any damages relating to and arising from the presence of bed bugs.”
The negligence of hotel owners and landlords to protect against bed bug infestations gives individuals the right to sue to recover damages associated with a bed bug infestation.
Recovering damages from a St. Louis bed bug infestation
The St. Louis bed bug attorneys act on your behalf on a pre-litigation basis to help you recover monetary damages such as professional extermination, replacing furniture and personal belongings and lost wages. You also suffer non-monetary damages such as embarrassment, stress and lost sleep.
Contact the St. Louis bed bug lawyers for a free consultation regarding your pre-litigation bed bug case legal representation.