Legionnaires’ Disease Case Overviews Archives

December 6, 2021 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legal Aspects of an Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease at a Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland

Legionnaires’ disease is caused by the bacteria genus Legionella. Infection occurs when an infectious dose of the bacteria enters deeply into a susceptible person’s lungs, either by inhaling contaminated aerosolized water droplets, or by aspirating water into the lungs. The outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which this paper deals with occurred in Ocean City, Maryland. In total, there were nine confirmed cases associated with the hotel. This paper explores several lawsuits filed against the hotel. Hotel guests who contracted the disease filed suit in federal court, applying Maryland state law, and Maryland state court. The victims brought claims for negligence, punitive damages, and violation of Maryland’s consumer law. This paper…

March 19, 2021 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Revisited: The Spa and Waterpark Case

This post highlights three past client’s cases to demonstrate the common scenarios where Legionnaires disease can be contracted. This post examines the potential sources of exposure that exist in a day spa and waterpark settings. For more information on the possible dangers of hot tubs, check out our blog post about it. In February 2017, our clients contracted Legionnaires disease following a visit to a local Sauna and Spa. Within days of each of their visits, they began suffering from symptoms that eventually led to their Legionnaires disease diagnosis. The spa offered a variety of amenities including hot tubs, spas, saunas,…

November 18, 2020 zacherlaw 0 Comments

The Duty of a Maintenance Company

The next case we’re going to revisit, while also involving a hotel, is unique as it involved an external maintenance company and the duty it owed to keep a pool system safe. In this case, a hotel employee was tasked with manually cleaning out the filter for the pool and hot tub. Within a week, the employee began to feel ill and was later diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. He was the third case of Legionnaires’ disease that could be traced back to the hotel. He was hospitalized multiple times over a 5-month period as a result of his diagnosis. Both…

November 13, 2020 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Revisited: The Hospital Case

Hospital-associated cases are what they sound like: contaminated water at the hospital causes illness amongst its patients and/or employees. Healthcare facilities like hospitals and nursing homes usually serve the populations with the highest risk of contracting Legionnaires’ Disease: elderly individuals and individuals with prior-existing conditions. The following case we had a few years ago. In 2017, the client was admitted to a nearby hospital. Shortly after, she developed symptoms consistent with Legionnaires’ Disease such as cough and fatigue, was treated in the ICU, and then discharged. Unfortunately, because physicians misdiagnosed her, she had to be readmitted days later. Arriving in acute…

November 12, 2020 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Revisited: A Common Hotel Case

Like some of our prior posts, this post highlights a past client’s case. We have previously highlighted cases focusing specifically on hot tubs and cooling towers. This post highlights the potential sources of exposure that exist in hotel and resort settings. In June 2019, our client contracted Legionnaires’ Disease following a stay at an out-of-state hotel. Within days of his visit, he began suffering from symptoms and eventually died as a result of the disease. Generally, sources of exposure at hotels are many, as legionella bacteria can grow and become aerosolized through a number of different sources where water is…

November 4, 2020 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Revisited: The Case of the Cooling Tower

Like the last case we revisited, this post highlights a past client’s case. Our last post highlighted the danger of hot tubs. This post highlights the threat posed by cooling towers – a large, commercial building’s water cooling system. In July and August 2015, there was an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease in the Bronx that claimed 12 lives and sickened at least 128 people. The outbreak caused widespread concern and weeks of uncertainty among residents. Thanks to the hard work of epidemiologists and investigators, the source of the outbreak was identified: a cooling tower in the area. In cooling tower…

November 4, 2020 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Revisited: Our Bed and Breakfast Case

Thankfully, there have been no outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease since we covered the cases in Tazewell and Sheboygan counties. So we thought it helpful to highlight some of our past, common scenarios where previous clients of ours have contracted the disease. In our first case, the clients contracted Legionnaires’ Disease on vacation at the defendant’s lake home she was renting. Specifically, three family members inhaled contaminated water emanating from a hot tub on the property. Two fell seriously ill and one family member died as a result of the disease. This case was particularly tricky as Legionella testing was never…

October 23, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Spas, Hot Tubs and Jacuzzis as source of Legionnaires’ disease

This office has handled many cases of Legionnaires’ disease acquired from a spa, hot tub or Jacuzzi. The recent outbreak in Hampton, New Hampshire is a case in point. One possible source of this outbreak is in the indoor spa at the Sands Resort in Hampton. The reasons a spa may be a source is due to the nature of the system supplying water to the spa. The system itself is called a closed loop system. This means that the water supplying the spa, hot tub or Jacuzzi is in a continuous loop closed off from other water systems in…

March 6, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Quincy Illinois Veteran’s Home Residence Halls To Be Replaced

Over the past few weeks, we have included several articles regarding the Quincy, Illinois Veteran’s Home Legionnaire’s disease outbreak and the state’s attempts to not only find out exactly what happened, but to also take steps to try and ensure this kind of severe outbreak can never happen again. As of yesterday, this process of figuring out next steps took a new decisive turn by having Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration announce its plans to replace the residence halls at Quincy, Illinois veterans’ facility. The plan, which was revealed by the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries, was initially…

February 5, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Southern Nevada Health District Confirms 7 Legionnaires’ Disease Cases from Rio Outbreak

Back in June of 2017, public health officials began to learn about the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which occurred at the Rio Hotel-Casino, an outbreak which initially involved only 2 reported cases. Now, nearly 8 months later, the Southern Nevada Health District is reporting that in fact the Rio Hotel-Casino outbreak in fact involved 7 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease with a potential of 29 additional cases being suspected. This kind of continued treatment and additional cases being revealed is, in some ways, relatively normal for a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. As Robert Cole, senior environmental health specialist for the Southern…