Perhaps you have heard about Maycember, the avalanche of expenses that hits you at the end of the school year. It is as costly as the December holidays, but nowhere near as fun. You must splurge on graduation gifts, deposits for summer camp tuition, and in some cases, graduation regalia, and then there is the obligatory Memorial Day weekend vacation, just to prove to your family or to the digital Joneses that you are at least somewhat fun.
If you are like the majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, and this even includes a considerable number whose annual household income exceeds $100,000, then all you could afford this year was a weekend at a shady motel or a vacation rental in the middle of nowhere. Knowing your luck, you found bed bugs on the mattress, and some of them hitched a ride home with you on your luggage.
Even though bedbug infestations are not a life or death emergency, they are plenty burdensome, and even a single doctor’s office visit to address your bed bug bites can lead to significant medical expenses. Premises liability laws offer justice for people injured by bed bug infestations in hotels and vacation rentals. If you are stressed out by bed bugs and the costs of getting rid of them, contact a Santa Fe slip-and-fall and premises liability lawyer.
New Mexico Premises Liability Law Does Not Specifically Mention Bed Bugs, But You Can Connect the Dots
Premises liability laws provide robust protections to individuals who suffer preventable injuries due to unsafe conditions in places they visit as paying customers, referred to as business invitees in legal terms. This includes guests in hotels, motels, and vacation rental houses and apartments. Some states have laws that specifically address business owners’ liability for bed bug infestations, but New Mexico is not one of them. In-state, you can pursue your claim under New Mexico’s premises liability laws.
In a premises liability claim related to bed bugs, you can request damages for all the financial losses you incurred because of the defendant’s negligence in failing to get rid of the bed bugs before renting the room to you. For example, if you incurred medical bills for your bed bug bites, you can request reimbursement for that. You can also seek compensation for the money you spent clearing the infestation from your own home. Some plaintiffs even claim noneconomic damages for the stress they suffered in dealing with the bed bug infestation.
The biggest hurdle you face in prevailing in your claim is proving that the defendant’s premises were the source of the infestation. You must prove that there were bed bugs in the defendant’s room when you were there. You must also prove that you did not have bed bugs in your home before you stayed at the defendant hotel.
Contact Slate Stern About Personal Injury Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in bed bug infestations in hotels. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-02/state-bed-bug-lr.pdf
Photo by Jake Charles on Unsplash