I'm curious to hear if
@jcb has anything to add to this discussion?
For those who wondered about me, thanks. I've been on vacation (and not, shockingly, in a Disney Theme Park, but, not surprisingly, I went in stores which sold boat loads of Disney merchandise at very good prices. But I digress).
I finally had a chance to look at the complaint and court file. The OP made the point that the $75,000 amount was a jurisdictional issue. I agree. The complaint (attached) merely alleges "the amount in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000.00." Showing (or alleging) that the controversy exceeds $75,000 is an absolute prerequisite if you want to file a lawsuit in federal court based upon what is commonly called the diversity jurisdiction statute.
28 U.S.C. 1332. (Claims based on federal law can be filed in federal court without regard to the amount in controversy). Congress sets the amount. When I first started law school, Congress set the threshold amount at $10,000, then in 1988, it upped the amount to $50,000 and in 1996, it became $75,000. The word "exceeds" is important. I know of at least one decision which dismissed a lawsuit because the amount in controversy was exactly $75,000. But I again digress.
Complaints must include some kind of demand for relief. This complaint demands Disney compensate plaintiffs for "damages to their persons, pain and suffering, emotional distress, property damages and losses, lost wages and lost income, court costs, interest, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages, and for all general and equitable relief." In other words, legally, plaintiffs seek much more than $75k but, as a prior poster said, they aren't required to name a specific amount in the complaint.
Pete or John mentioned the complaint alleged that Disney admitted there were bed bugs. That's true. But let's delve deeper into the facts. The complaint alleges that during their stay at All-Star Music, the family members (the "LaCombes") "experienced significant skin irritation, redness, itching, and/or swelling, which resulted in trouble sleeping, pain, and distress. At that time, the LaCombes were
unaware of the origin of these issues." (My emphasis.) They then "departed" the hotel, returned "to their residence" and "learned that the numerous skin irritations, redness, itching, and/or swelling were the result of exposure to and bites by numerous bedbugs in the Disney Hotel." The complaint then asserts: "The Lacombes immediately notified the Defendants, and Defendants confirmed the existence of bedbugs in the hotel room the LaCombes stayed in at the Disney Hotel." The latter sentence is the extent of the assertion that Disney admitted there were bed bugs.
The complaint does not say the Disney entity they "notified" or the name of any individual who "confirmed" the bedbugs were in the hotel room. You would think that if the LaCombes had this information it would have been included in the complaint. That creates a huge evidentiary issue. You can't just call up guest services and then testify that some unnamed person on the other end of the phone "confirmed" the truth of your allegations. Even if you get the name of the person who "confirmed" the bedbugs were there when you stayed, most decisions in bedbug lawsuits (like other tort claims) require some evidence that someone in authority (e.g., a manager) knew about the infestation before the plaintiffs have checked in.
This allegation is kind of a red-herring, however, as most bedbug decisions look to whether the hotel knew about the bedbugs before the plaintiffs checked in (this is a gross over-generalization) so evidence that Disney admitted, after the fact, that there were bedbugs in the hotel room might not be all that relevant. I found no Florida appeal decision addressing what a guest must prove to hold a hotel owner are liable bedbugs, or even for other insect infestations or even for snakes in hotel rooms. (Infestations clearly happen. I recall a DIS thread from 2008 which posted photos of a snake nest in the curtain on the
second floor of the Contemporary's garden wing. Thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...resort-room-updated-10-23-snake-nest.1986307/ Photos here:
http://jennkey.blogspot.com/2008/10/wow-what-trip.html)
My favorite bedbug case concerned a Motel 6 in Chicago in which there was ample evidence the motel knew its rooms were infested before the plaintiffs rented a room (for $100 a night). The court explained: "The infestation continued and began to reach farcical proportions, as when a guest, after complaining of having been bitten repeatedly by insects while asleep in his room in the hotel, was moved to another room only to discover insects there; and within 18 minutes of being moved to a third room he discovered insects in that room as well and had to be moved still again. (Odd that at that point he didn't flee the motel.)"
Mathias v. Accor Econ. Lodging, Inc., 347 F.3d 672, 675 (7th Cir. 2003). Yet, it isn't clear to me what rules will govern in Florida. For example, in slip and fall cases caused by "transitory" objects on a floor, Florida now requires "actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.0755. I couldn't say whether this applies to hotel room infestations and there are policy reasons going both ways as to why it might or might not apply.
What also interested me is that this lawsuit is almost a year old so I'm not sure why it is getting publicity now. The LaCombes filed their complaint in Louisiana federal court, where they live. They sued Disney Parks, Disney Company, and Disney's travel company. Disney always moves to dismiss or transfer lawsuits filed in states other than Florida (or California, for DLR) which allege some kind of personal injury at WDW. Disney Parks, as a corporate entity, manages WDW and DLR so it takes the position it does no business in other states and therefore can only be sued in Florida or California. Disney's
travel agency might do business in other states but when you sue for injuries caused at WDW or DLR, you have to sue Disney Parks, the entity that operates the Theme Parks. The Louisiana court recently agreed with Disney and transferred the lawsuit to federal court in Florida. (This decision is also attached).
The case is already complicated. The LaCombes fired the lawyers who filed the complaint and those lawyers have now sued (essentially) the LaCombes to collect their fees if the LaCombes win. The lawyers claim they are due 40% of any recovery which is probably not unethically excessive but enough of a percentage to make me snarkily comment that perhaps these lawyers should be more circumspect about alleging Disney permitted "parasitic, blood-sucking insects" in hotel rooms.