Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

Re: Rented an apartment infested with Bed Bugs

You very well could have a case.

Do everything you can to document

the facts including obtaining

reports of exterminators, photographs,

reports of municipal inspectors,

witness statements, photographs

of injuries, medical records and

medical bills.

Please feel free to contact me for

a free consultation.

Re: Rented an apartment infested with Bed Bugs

Maybe. See what ordinances apply to residential rental properties in Granite City. Some such orginances require landlords to spray for pests. Unfortunately, taking care of the bugs in your apartment is not a guarantee that they will not return, either, as the entire building should be done at once.

With respect to a claim for negligence, you will have to be able to show: 1.) the landlord had control over the problem that caused the injury; 2.) the landlord knew or should have know that injury would result from failing to fix the problem; 3.) fixing the problem (or at least giving adequate warnings) would not have been unreasonably expensive or difficult; 4.) the injury was probably due to the landlord's failure to fix the problem; 5.) the landlord failed to take reasonable steps to avoid the injury from occurring; 6.) because of the landlord's actions or inactions, an actual injury was suffered.

Here, "injury" does not necessarily mean physical harm, it also means any economic damages you suffer as well. So if you have to throw out all your old stuff and get new things, or you have to pay a dry cleaner specializing in pest removal to clean your clothes, save all your receipts because these go toward any damage claim you might have.

I highly suggest you find a lawyer in your area that can help you with this. Sometimes a threatening letter from an attorney is all it takes to get a landlord to do what they're supposed to do.

In the meantime, there are a lot of resources on the internet on how to deal with bedbugs. Good luck.