$800k Infestation: Woman's Bedbug Trauma Gets Her Big Bucks
Faika Shaaban was awarded $800,000 after a jury found her landlord negligible and fully aware of a bedbug infestation in the apartment she rented. Shaaban suffered hundreds of bites and lesions as a result of the infestation and was evicted from her apartment after complaining about the bugs.
The landlord, Cornelius J. Barrett and West Street Partnership, reportedly put all of Shaaban's things on the curb when she was evicted. Everything was stolen, leaving her with next to nothing. Shaaban only learned that she had been attacked by bedbugs when she went to county housing officials to find a new place to live.
A jury took less than 45 minutes to award Shaaban $850,000 in damages, which was more than double the amount she had initially requested.
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"The jury was asked to send a message," Shaaban's attorney, Daniel Whitney, told The Capital Gazette. "I think they have. She's still trying to process this. She's very thankful for having her day in court."
"Every night blood-sucking parasites would come into her bed and feed upon her," Whitney added.
Once Shaaban was diagnosed with bedbugs, she did all she could to alert her neighbors and try to rectify the problem. She spoke to her neighbors, who said that they had been complaining for weeks but that nothing had been done. Shaaban then contacted city employees, who ordered the landlord to hire an exterminator.
"He defies the order of the city. He decides to pick up some propane heaters and do it himself, not knowing what he's doing. The bedbugs move away from the heat and that night [Shaaban] wakes up and they have basically invaded her bedroom. She sees them and she's terrified," Whitney said.
After Shaaban continued complaining to city officials about the infestation, the landlord became vindictive and shut off her hot water, then shut off all of the water to her apartment.
City records support all of Whitney's claims against the landlord, and his client was validated. Shaaban is now living in a clean home in Anne Arundel County, but Whitney said that she will not be doing any interviews as she continues to recover from the ordeal.
