South Carolina’s Frustratingly Ambiguous Bed Bug Laws
Summer is here, and everybody is flat broke. This means that instead of going anywhere that requires air travel or taking a road trip to the theme parks in Orlando, the most that Columbia families can afford in terms of summer fun is a beach trip to the Grand Strand, where you can stay in a roadside motel or vacation rental. Unfortunately, you do not have to travel far or spend a lot of money to bring home a souvenir of bed bugs. Myrtle Beach is the bed bug capital of South Carolina, based on insurance claim data, but Greenville and Spartanburg also have their share of bed bugs. The worse news is that South Carolina law is mostly silent regarding bed bugs. To decide how to get justice after bed bugs sucked your blood and infested the furnishings of your house, you will need the help of someone with in-depth knowledge of the law. For help recovering from your bed bug vacation nightmare, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.
Who Is Legally Responsible If the Bed Bugs Bite?
Bed bugs rarely cause serious injury to humans, but they are a nuisance, and getting rid of them is financially burdensome. Furthermore, bed bug bites, especially many bites over a long period of time, can require medical treatment, causing you to incur medical bills. If you got minor injuries and costly property damage in a car accident, the law would provide clear guidelines about how to get compensation. It would make sense if the law also did that for bed bug infestations. 20 states have enacted laws that specify the rights of people whose homes get infested with bed bugs after a visit to a place of business, such as a hotel. Unfortunately, South Carolina is not one of the states with bed bug laws on the books.
Your best option regarding legal protection for bed bug infestation claims is premises liability. If you get bed bugs from a hotel or vacation rental, you can sue the company that operates it for failing to maintain the premises in safe condition. It is the same law that would protect you if you fell on a slippery floor in a hotel, or if a shelf in a hotel room fell and injured you.
Premises liability lawsuits bring bad publicity to the defendants. Therefore, threatening to file a premises liability lawsuit is often all it takes to get the defendant to offer you an adequate settlement. Sometimes all you have to do is email the hotel and attach pictures of the bed bugs on the mattress and the bites on your skin. If that does not work, a premises liability lawyer can complain to the hotel on your behalf.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you get adequate compensation if you incurred medical expenses because of a bed bug infestation. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article299399684.html
