Orlando Business & Commercial Law Blog

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/maryland-bedbug-lawsuit-faika-shaaban_n_3378001.html

The Plaintiff moved into a home owned by the Defendant and soon after was covered in "scabs and lesions from head to toe" from a horrific bed bug infestation, according to the Gazette. The Plaintiff asserted that the Landlord knew all along the house was infested with the blood-sucking insects and had been ordered by the city to eradicate the problem. A county housing worker inspected Plaintiff'ss bites the following April and confirmed they were from bed bugs. When the Plaintiff notified her landlord, he took several retaliatory measures, including eviction.

Of the $800,000 verdict, the Plaintiff was awarded $650,000 in punitive damages.  If a landlord or hotel owner was aware or should have been aware of a bed bug infestation through prior complaints, and chooses to ignore those complaints thereby placing someone in direct danger, punitive damages may be sought and awarded.

In many cases of commercial real estate development, developers will seek tax breaks, services in kind or even outright cash from local municipalities. The thinking goes that development is good for a communities because it provides jobs, boosts tax rolls and makes valuable services available to local residents.

Not everyone follows that school of thought, however.

For quite awhile now, it has looked as though Ruth's Chris Steakhouse would occupy one of the prime positions at Unicorp National Development Inc.'s Winter Park Lakeside development.

That all may have changed, however.

West Church Street, which links downtown Orlando to the Florida Citrus Bowl, might soon look very different.

That's because after years of delays and long stretches of tedious work, a $17 million improvement plan for the street is finally underway. The project is a significant portion of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's plan to make the city's Parramore neighborhood a major sports and entertainment hub.