MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — One South Carolina lawyer specializing in bed bug cases said 90% of his cases stem from Myrtle Beach hotels and resorts.
Trevor Eddy, owner of the Eddy Law Firm in Columbia, said his firm has worked on at least 45 cases with more than 200 total clients in recent years. Most cases are still in active litigation.
With this summer’s tourism boom and a shortage of workers at some hotels, Eddy said he’s seen an increase in people turning to his firm for help after bed bug bites. Eddy said most cases happen in the bigger cities in the Palmetto State, but added that Myrtle Beach stands out.
“Myrtle Beach is by far the largest epicenter of my cases in South Carolina,” Eddy said.
Specializing in bed bug and biting insect cases at hotels and resorts across South Carolina is something that Eddy said just happened. He took on one case and realized the only way people could get help was through the legal system.
“It clearly was something no one else wanted to work on, and it turned out that this was a pervasive problem in South Carolina,” Eddy said.
Eddy said he wishes the issue of bed bugs at hotels and resorts would be addressed by state government or the industry, so people don’t have to go through the process of hiring a lawyer. He added that even when his firm gets involved, hotel ownership tends to ignore them until lawsuits are filed. Then, Eddy said “they fight tooth and nail.”
“It makes you wonder how many of these cases, how many of these events, are going unreported and unresolved,” Eddy said.
Eddy said everyone should be on the lookout at hotels for small blood stains and shells, especially around bed corners. He said those are telltale signs bed bugs are present.
“It’s so easy to find these things,” Eddy said. “My clients find the bed bugs in the rooms and the beds all the time, and they’re not trained. They’ve got no education. They’re not professionals. If my clients can find these bugs in the beds, in the sheets, there’s no reason why the staff in the hotels should not be able to.”
Monica Wilson is on vacation with three friends in Myrtle Beach, and they’ve rented a condo. For $120, they hired their own third party cleaning crew to make sure the condo was free of any and all pests.
“We’ll ask them to check for bed bugs, and we’ll make them triple check because I don’t want to take living things back home with me,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the benefit far outweighed the cost.
“I can drink $120, so I surely can pay someone to give me peace of mind for $120,” Wilson said.
