Guilty as Charged, Unless You Actively Prevent Bed Bugs

Sponsored by

NATIONAL REPORT—The legal consequences of bed bugs can be staggering, highlighted by recent awards made to guests nationwide.

  • A California family was awarded $1.6 million after their three-year-old was scarred by bites.
  • One New York City tenant received $300,000 from the property’s landlord due to an infestation.
  • A guest at a hotel in Georgetown, a neighborhood in Washington, DC, sued for $200,000 for one bite.

Even Disney is being sued. So, how can a hotelier fend off such financial awards resulting from litigation? According to Jeff Lipman Esq., who specializes in bed bug litigation, “reactive based measures alone, however implemented, for effective bed bug management and control is an ancient and ineffective way of dealing with bed bugs in hotels and will assuredly create legal peril for hotel property owners.”

While many states are just beginning to create legislation around bed bugs, the duty-of-care is a well-established law in each state, also known as premises liability. To avoid being found negligent, a hotel must be able to satisfy the question, “did you do everything possible to prevent bed bugs from attacking guests?” If the answer isn’t yes, a hotelier could be liable.

Having a solid, field-proven bed bug prevention program in place can stop infestations from happening in the first place. It can certainly stop a bed bug incident from turning into an expensive, embarrassing, and litigious situation. To learn more about bed bug prevention, including how hoteliers can receive all the benefits of active mattress liners installed on mattresses or box springs, sign up for a free one-on-one webinar.

About Allergy Technologies
ActiveGuard Mattress Liners kill bed bugs. Easily installed on mattresses or box springs, these liners offer two-year continual prevention and control against any adult bed bugs, nymphs or eggs. ActiveGuard has no cautionary signal words or use restrictions on its label. Only four sizes—single/twin, double/full, queen and king—fit almost every available mattress or box spring and accommodate up to extra-large in length and 17-in. in depth. Underlying is ActiveGuard’s formulation; a unique and proprietary delivery system that offers sustained bioavailability of permethrin for two years. Newest research supports that after a short exposure to ActiveGuard of only 10 minutes, bed bugs regardless of their level of resistance, begin to show significant reductions in feeding (biting) and a dramatic inability to lay eggs. This results in discontinuation of population growth thereby halting progression of an incident to an infestation. If you are seeking a pro-active preventative approach, ActiveGuard should be considered as the centerpiece of your long-term solution to keep bedding from being infested. ActiveGuard Mattress Liners are covered under U.S. Patents 5,916,580, 6,214,365, 6,440,438 and pending patents. For more tips on preventing bed bugs and uncovering infestations early visit us online at  www.hotelbedbugprevention.com.