LA Times – A British tourist was awarded $375,000 after he suffered hundreds of bed bug bites all over his body during his stay at a Hollywood Hills home, according to court records.
The tourist, Meshak Moore, at first believed the marks on his body were from mosquito bites, but four weeks after waking up with itchy welts on his skin he discovered his mattress was infested with hundreds of bugs and nests that he recorded in a video he submitted as evidence.
“I’ve been sleeping in this for a month, getting bitten,” he is heard saying in the video when he discovered the bugs, according to court records filed Friday. “Look. Look.”
Meshak Moore discovered hundreds of bed bugs and nests at the Hollywood Hills home where he stayed during a vacation in 2015. He was recently awarded $375,000 after he filed a suit against the homeowners.
The arbitration decision, signed June 29 by Robert Bare, a judge with the American Arbitration Assn., came after six years of litigation between Moore and Henry Huang and Robert Norris of Bamboo Retreats LLC, the owners of the house in the 2000 block of Vasanta Way. Moore was in Los Angeles for an extended vacation, renting part of the house occupied by Huang and Norris.
“This case was a beast,” said Moore’s attorney, Brian Virag, who said it extended over two years after going through two rounds of arbitration.
Robert Anderson, the attorney for Norris and Huang, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the arbitration agreement, Moore planned to stay at the property from Aug. 24, 2015, to Oct. 22, 2015, but he noticed bug bites around his body on the first night.
Moore initially believed the bites were from mosquitoes and began to close the windows of the home to keep them out, but according to court records “the bites got worse and worse, and by the end of the first week, there were approximately 100 bites.”
Still, Moore continued to believe the bites were from mosquitoes, and he began to sleep fully clothed to avoid bites.
That didn’t deter the bugs, either.
After four weeks of waking up covered in bites, Moore testified, he thought “enough was enough” and decided to check the bed.
Hundreds of bed bugs littered the mattress that Moore had been sleeping on for weeks, according to court records, citing video taken by Moore during his inspection of the bed.
“He saw hundreds of bugs running, and multiple nests and eggs,” according to the arbitration agreement.
Moore was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors noted the bites covered his body, including his penis. It took three years of using creams and lotions, Moore testified, for the scars to blend to a point where they were no longer visible.
Meanwhile, Huang testified that Moore’s experience was the first time he was aware of bed bugs at the property and had no idea how they got there, despite efforts to try to prevent an infestation at the home with pesticides and an anti-bug mattress.
One expert testified that the bed bugs had been infesting the mattress for at least three months before Moore discovered them.
The owners of the property also said that, had they been alerted to the bites earlier, they would have addressed the situation before it got out of hand.
According to the arbitration agreement, the judge had initially considered awarding Moore $500,000, but he ruled that he was 25% liable for not alerting the property owners sooner.
Even though Huang and Norris lived at the property during the time of Morris’ stay, Morris didn’t bring up the bites during the four weeks before he discovered the bed bugs.
When asked why he didn’t reach out during a deposition, Moore testified that he “did not connect the two.”
Despite his client being found partly liable, Virag said Moore felt “fortunate to put this whole incident behind him.”
Based in Encino, Virag specializes in legal cases involving bed bug infestations. On his website, Virag uses a cartoon depiction of himself holding a gavel and the words “My bed bug lawyer” emblazoned beside him.
Last year, another client of Virag’s reached a $100,000 settlement with Disneyland Resort after claiming she was bitten by bed bugs during a stay in 2018.
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