A woman, Ivy Eldridge, who stayed at Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim in April was bitten numerous times by bedbugs and suffered physical and emotional damage.
This was revealed in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by an attorney who has won large verdicts for bedbug victims.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court accuses Disneyland Hotel of failing to eradicate bedbugs that left welts and bite marks on Eldridge, who stayed at the hotel while visiting the theme park with family members.
Photos provided by her lawyer show what appear to be red bite marks on her shoulders, neck, back and ears.
Disneyland spokeswoman Liz Jaeger said the company hasn’t seen the lawsuit but said in a statement that “these occurrences are extremely rare.”
“We take extensive preventative measures so that our guests are comfortable and safe during their hotel stays and when needed take aggressive steps to rectify,” Jaeger said.
Brian Virag, the attorney who filed the suit on Eldridge’s behalf, said Disneyland Resort had been sued in 2016 over bedbug problems at another resort hotel – Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa – and should have eliminated the bug problem at Disneyland Hotel before Eldridge checked in.
“They did not provide a bedbug-free hotel room,” he said.
Virag is no stranger to bedbug lawsuits. He won a $3.5 million verdict last year over a bedbug infestation at Park La Brea Apartments, a 4,000-unit complex in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles.
She also won a $546,000 verdict for a family that was bitten by bedbugs at a Hilton hotel in Rancho Cucamonga.
The latest lawsuit, which names Walt Disney Co., Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Disneyland Hotel, seeks punitive damages as well as damages for physical and mental suffering but does not specify a dollar amount.
The lawsuit says that Disneyland Hotel knew it had a bedbug problem and the failure to act “was so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond all bounds of decency.”
The lawsuit says Eldridge “endured many sleepless nights and much emotional and mental distress, coupled with other physical conditions associated with severe mental and emotional distress.”
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