The story grabbed headlines worldwide and has now led to a lawsuit against the Venetian Resort Las Vegas.
A California tourist who stayed in the Venetian’s Palazzo Tower over the 2023 Christmas holiday said he was stung by a scorpion — while he was sleeping — and woke up to a searing pain in his groin area.
8 News Now first reported on this incident in March 2024, and since then, Farchi, 62, said the poisonous sting to his testicles has caused him to suffer PTSD and emotional trauma for which he continues to seek treatment. The incident has had ramifications on Farchi’s sex life, the lawsuit stated.
“I can also indicate, as you saw in the complaint, we’re also making a claim for loss of consortium for Mr. Farchi’s wife,” said Brian Virag of “My Bed Bug Lawyer,” one of Farchi’s California attorneys.
“Consortium” means that Farchi’s wife is making legal claims that their sex life hasn’t been the same since the sting.
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Farchi shared with 8 News Now photos of the scorpion hanging on his underwear.
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Farchi shared a medical incident report with 8 News Now that he filed at the Palazzo on December 26. It showed his suite number and what he wrote to hotel staff that night, “bitten by scorpion on my groin/testicles.”
Farchi said the hotel staff didn’t take him seriously.
“(They were) just holding their groin area and laughing about it,” he said. “It was really embarrassing.”
Farchi went to Summerlin Hospital and was diagnosed with “Poisoning: Scorpion Sting,” according to the lawsuit.
Farchi was also treated at UCLA Medical Center, where doctors confirmed he was suffering from physical injuries, including erectile dysfunction, as a result of the scorpion sting, the lawsuit stated.
That definitely sucks but what is the legal argument being made here? Is he saying that hotels can’t allow bugs (or whatever the fuck scorpions are) indoors at any time? I don’t see how this is anything other than an unfortunate accident.
Apparently they are arachnids.
A quick search also seems to indicate that they fall under the umbrella of pest control, and the article suggests “they were on notice that there were prior issues of scorpions at the subject property”, so it seems like the hotel was reasonably expected to provide scorpion-free accommodations, lol
To be fair, I expect most places to be scorpion free.
You don’t even have to be in a desert state to encounter scorpions, which I learned after seeing a scorpion in Florida. Apparently my grandparents’ old house used to get them pretty regularly.
That’s it - building work had disturb some scorpions and the hotel doesn’t seem to have done anything about them.
He is being represented by My Bed Bug Lawyer who, presumably, specialise in suing hotels who don’t take steps to remove insect infestations.
Probably goes after landlords too. I am therefore obligated to like that guy/gal and their branding.
Bed bugs: proof that there is no god, or at least not a benevolent one.
Today I learned there are ~40 species of scorpion endemic to California 😬 edit: the incident occurred in Vegas, not California, so I totally misread, but still!
We are neighbors though. I’m sure some of the California scorpions like to go play the slots in Nevada on occasion.
they’re just looking for dark damp spots to rest.
Not poison. Venom.
