Legionnaires Disease

Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured a settlement for a woman who contracted Legionnaires’ Disease following a stay at a Florida hotel where she routinely used the hot tub. The Florida Department of Health reported a previous case of Legionnaires’ Disease three years earlier at the same hotel, this time infecting a man in his 60s.

The woman began experiencing symptoms the day she checked out from the hotel, including swelling all over her body, attorneys said in court records. She broke out in a fever ranging from 101 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit and was diagnosed at the hospital with multifocal pneumonia and Legionnaires’ Disease. While she was in the hospital, the woman went into septic shock.

Records from the state department of health showed the hotel failed to maintain minimum chlorine levels in the jacuzzi. Leesfield & Partners attorneys also discovered that the hotel failed to maintain the hot tub in accordance with industry standards. As a result of her exposure, the woman suffered an acute kidney injury. To this day, the woman suffers from regular bouts of pain and fatigue.

Leesfield & Partners reached two six-figure settlements in Legionnaires’ Disease cases against the same Resort. Ira Leesfield and attorneys with the firm argued that the resort was negligent in failing to properly maintain and sanitize its water systems, including decorative water features, which led to the spread of the bacteria and the infection of guests.

Our two clients, one from Florida and the other from Maryland, did not know each other and their stay did not overlap in time. Nonetheless, both were infected, contracted the disease and experienced a very similar onset of symptoms. First they began experiencing generalized body soreness, extreme fatigue, chills, difficulty breathing, and high fever. They went to the hospital within days of returning from the resort and were admitted with pneumonia and double pneumonia respectively. Infectious disease doctors consulted with both clients and upon further testing, a diagnosis of Legionnaires’ Disease was made.

Maryland and Florida’s Department of Health officials investigated the potential source of the infection and quickly zeroed in on a Florida resort as the potential source. Within days Health officials inspected the resort and found the Legionella bacteria in one of the many decorative water features of the resort. Within ten months of being retained, Leesfield & Partners secured a six-figure settlement for each client.

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