After a woman alleged she had been bit multiple times while staying at the Disneyland Hotel in 2018, the company has agreed to pay her $100,000.
Ivy Eldridge said she stayed at the hotel in April of 2018 with her family when she was bitten by bedbugs she believed came from the hotel property. According to the lawsuit, she suffered emotional stress and anxiety from the bites which caused severe rashes all over her body and led to her losing clothing and other personal items.
The lawsuit alleged the company did not properly maintain its rooms in a “decent, safe and habitable condition.”
Per a recent report by KTLA, Disney confirmed to both the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles TV news outlet that the settlement was reached in an effort to avoid the cost of litigation. Additionally, the company said it goes to great lengths to ensure its hotel environments are safe and free of bug infestations.
“Bedbug infestations are perhaps the most serious issue facing the hotel industry because of the harm they can do to a hotel’s reputation and brand,” said Brian Verag, an Encino attorney specializing in bedbug-related cases who represented Eldridge in her lawsuit.
Verag says bedbugs “don’t discriminate” and can be found in any hotel of any quality across the globe.
Per a recent report by KTLA, the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and was due to go to trial on April 8. However, it was settled outside of court prior to that date in March.
This is not the first time we’ve heard of a guest to a Disney-owned hotel say they experienced bedbugs. A Louisiana couple who came to Walt Disney World on vacation in April of 2018 claimed to have had a run-in with bedbugs at the All-Star Movies Resort, which say said not only bit them during their stay but also followed them home, according to a lawsuit they filed against Disney.
