PREMISES LIABILITY

BROWARD CIRCUIT COURT

An apartment building manager must pay $26,100 to a tenant who developed rashes and welts as a result of a bedbug infestation, a jury decided.

Ann Drake, a retiree in her 80s, moved into The Waves Apartments in Plantation on May 1, 2015. She claimed the infestation was not promptly resolved and should not have existed at all. Drake claimed the bedbug bites caused permanent nerve damage.

The management company's counsel noted bedbugs can come into an apartment after latching onto furniture or clothes, but the jury found the management company was at fault.

Case: Drake v. ZRS Management

Case No.: CACE17005052

Plaintiffs attorneys: Anthony S. Murphy and Jermaine Thompson, Law Office of Jermaine O'Neill Thompson, Oakland Park

Defense attorneys: Arthur E. Alves II, Tampa, and Jonathan Midwall, Miami, Cole, Scott & Kissane

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