Bed-bug battle settles out of court
LOS ANGELES — Three women who sued a Glendale motel after suffering more than 100 bed-bug bites have settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, attorneys said Monday.
Attorneys representing the three women — Nichole Eatman, Vera Domini and Regina Martocci — said they met with representatives for Rodeway Inn-Regalodge Motel, at 200 W. Colorado St., and its franchiser, Choice Hotels International Inc., last week, to reach the settlement. They filed a motion Thursday to dismiss the case, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court documents.
One of the attorneys, Lourdes DeArmas, declined to disclose the agreement with operators of Rodeway Inn, but she said the case settled for “an OK amount.”
The motel operator’s insurance company will pay out the settlement costs, she added.
“My clients are happy with the amount,” DeArmas said.
Calls to defense attorneys and Manoj Mapara, president of Rodeway Inn-Regalodge Motel, were not returned Monday.
The trial was set to begin Monday in Los Angeles.
Eatman, Domini and Martocci claimed they had stayed three nights in a motel room that was allegedly infested with bed bugs and their larvae. Domini sustained 167 bed bug bites while staying at the motel, DeArmas said.
The bed bugs varied in size and appeared to be at different life stages, including egg, larvae and adult, according to the lawsuit.
Eatman, Domini and Martocci checked in to the motel on Oct. 5, 2009, when they claimed they began noticing itchy bumps on their bodies, according to the lawsuit filed in June.
Three days later, they pulled off the bed sheets and turned over the mattresses to find “blood-engorged bed bugs,” according to the lawsuit.
The women also claimed to have found other bugs between nooks of the motel furniture.
The motel paid for extermination services four times to get rid of the bed bug infestation, according to court documents.
After discovering the bed bugs, the women left the motel, headed to the nearest Laundromat to wash their belongings, and later returned to talk with managers, who declined to give a refund, DeArmas said.