A Delta flight attendant who sued the Westin Bonaventure, alleging she was awakened “with severe itching and burning” after being bitten by bed bugs during her stay at the downtown Los Angeles hotel in 2014, reached a settlement of her lawsuit, court papers obtained Monday show.
Ritchie Chery’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was filed in November 2016 and alleged battery, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, fraudulent concealment and private nuisance. Attorneys for Chery, the hotel and co-defendant Isotech Pest Management Inc. told Judge Elizabeth Feffer on April 11 that the case was resolved. No terms were divulged.
According to her complaint, Chery checked into her Bonaventure hotel room on Nov. 5, 2014. Weary from traveling, she unpacked, took a shower and went to bed, but not quite “an hour into her slumber, she was rudely awakened … with severe itching and burning all over her body, including on the right side of her face, her arms, her left index finger and down the side of her right thigh,” her lawsuit alleged.
Chery, who’d been bitten about six to seven times, turned on the lights and found about five bed bugs on the bed and blood spots on the sheet, according to her court papers, which state that she immediately notified the hotel management and took pictures of the bugs.
A hotel security employee arrived and confirmed the presence of the bedbugs, as did a manager who apologized to Chery, the suit alleges. Hotel management transferred her to another room and gave her alcohol preparation for the bites, but she was so traumatized that she sat awake in a chair, afraid to fall asleep, the suit stated.
No hotel staff member contacted Chery the next day to see how she was doing, according to the suit, which alleges that she had to throw out all of her clothing, including her Delta uniforms, that were exposed to the bed bugs and “left the hotel to go back to the airport that day with essentially none of her belongings.”
After returning to her Georgia home, Chery sought medical treatment and was given a cream for her skin as well as pills to help her sleep, according to her suit, which alleged she had scarring and discoloration from her ordeal.
“For months after the incident, she suffered from severe insomnia and still experiences anxiety when sleeping, especially when staying in hotels,” according to the lawsuit.