Bedbugs in Hotel Room Not Dangerous Condition

Hotel guests sued the owner and extermination company, claiming that bedbugs found in their rented room were an unsafe or dangerous condition. They asked the court to award punitive damages. On their first night in the hotel, one of the guests woke up to find red marks on her chest and blood on the sheets of her bed. She said she saw 50-100 bedbugs. The hotel owner and exterminator asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the condition wasn't dangerous and that they didn't have prior notice. The court ruled for the hotel owner in part. The hotel guests didn't show that the bedbugs were more than a nuisance. There was no proof that they created any unsafe or dangerous condition. But there was a question of fact about whether the hotel owner had notice. Reports from the exterminator showed complaints of bedbugs in other parts of the hotel a few weeks before the complaining guests checked in. So the court refused to dismiss the case. A trial was needed to determine the facts.

Grogan v. Gamber Corp.: NYLJ, 4/2/08, p. 26, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. NY; Gische, J)