A Howard County couple has filed a $500,000 lawsuit over a bedbug infestation in an Ellicott City apartment.
Orville Brown Jr. and his wife Rebecca say they were forced to move out of their apartment and throw away most of their possessions, including all of their 3-year-old daughter's toys.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Howard County Circuit Court names the owners and managers of the Howard Crossing apartment complex, reported the Baltimore Sun. A representative of Hirschfeld Management Inc., which operates the complex, declined to comment to the paper.
The lawsuit alleged the Browns were told that bedbugs had been found in an adjacent apartment and that their apartment would be treated as a precaution. They maintain their apartment received three inspections by an exterminator but was never treated.
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Bedbugs are blood-sucking insects that have become a growing problem in the U.S. in recent years, in part because the pesticides used to eradicate them have been outlawed. Treating an infestation is complex and can be costly.
The Browns said they and their daughter suffered red, itchy welts from bedbug bites, despite preventive efforts the couple undertook on their own, including performing exhaustive nightly searches throughout their apartment, wearing bug spray and sleeping on the couch.
Rebecca Brown has since been troubled by insomnia and the sense that bugs were crawling over her. She is undergoing therapy to deal with the trauma of the infestation, according to the suit.
In early September, the bedbug-besieged family gave up. They threw out nearly all their belongings and moved in with Rebecca Brown’s parents.
They are seeking $500,000 in damages for physical and emotional harm and for negligence by the management company, contending that the managers were dilatory and inexact in treating the infestation.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
