Every office has those afternoons when employees' minds start to wander toward the unusual. One day that happened to the editors at Claims Magazine, when the subject of bed bugs came up. “If an insured brings bed bugs home from a hotel, is there coverage?” asked one editor. Since I'm known for my penchant for answering the odd and unusual (skunks, dead bodies, destructive exes), the question was e-mailed to me.

Let's start with a little bit about the creatures themselves. Bed bugs feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, including humans. When they feed, they inject a tiny amount of saliva into the skin. Repeated exposure to bites over a period of several weeks or more may sensitize people to the saliva, with additional bites resulting in mild-to-intense allergic responses. Treatment often includes the use of antihistamines and corticosteroids.

Aside from the fact that they bite, they like to hide in cracks and crevices when disturbed, particularly in bed frames, mattresses, and box springs. They do not transmit any infectious agents. Because they like small crevices, though, they are easily transported in luggage, clothing, boxes, and other objects when these are moved between apartments, homes, and hotels. They can live for months without feeding, so an apartment that appears clean could already be infested. They also wander between voids in walls and holes through which wires pass. Bats and birds can introduce them as well, so if there is an infestation of bats or birds in an attic, then it is a good idea to look for bed bugs.

Digging Into Coverage Terms

Now let's look at coverage. Other than the existence of the bugs themselves, which is bothersome, they do not do much damage. They do not chew on the furniture, rugs, walls, or mattresses—just the humans. However, under a standard homeowner's policy, damage from birds, vermin, rodents, or insects is excluded from the dwelling coverage. Personal property coverage is covered for named perils, and there is no named peril for bugs infesting the furniture. Insureds are not eligible for medical payments under the form.

However, the question stems from the fact that the bugs came from a hotel, inn, or other location. Since the bugs can get through walls and live a long time without feeding, proving that they came from one place at any given time is going to be difficult. For the sake of the argument, let's say the claimant can prove that the bugs came from the Fleabag Hotel. We want to examine is if there is coverage under the CGL.

The CGL provides coverage for injury or damage for which the insured is legally liable. The injury has to be caused by an occurrence and take place in the coverage territory. The injury must also be reported immediately to the insured, and damages because of injury can be covered for care, loss of services, or death resulting from the injury. Coverage for property in the care, custody, or control of the insured is excluded, so the bugs getting into the suitcase sitting in a hotel room is excluded.

Medical payments, however, is a separate issue. There is coverage for treatment for the claimant's bites if they occurred at the hotel. Medical payments are triggered by accidents on the premises that the insured hotel owns or rents, or because of the insured's operations. Most hotels do not intentionally have bed bugs, so their existence on the property is accidental. That means there is coverage for the claimant's treatment.

Other Pest Concerns

It hardly seems fair to talk about bed bugs without a brief foray into head lice. Unlike bed bugs, head lice need to feed daily and cannot live for more than a day without food. Similar to bed bugs, they transmit no known infectious agents. They are mainly acquired through head-to-head contact with an infested person's hair, but may infrequently be transmitted through a shared comb, hat, or other hair accessory. They are hard to identify, and most specimens submitted by physicians, nurses, teachers, and parents are dandruff, dirt, or hairspray residue and not actually head lice.

Since they are transmitted person-to-person, there is no exposure on a CGL policy. Liability could exist on a homeowner's policy, assuming it can be proven from which person the claimant caught the head lice, not an easy task.

The homeowner's policy provides medical payments to someone on the insured premises, or someone off the insured premises because of the activities of an insured. Having a particular medical condition is not the same as an activity, so there is no coverage.

So while bed bugs and head lice are creepy crawlies and make most people say “eeewwww”, they are not really a tremendous issue. However, we here at National Underwriter are ready to tackle any issue, large or small, for the benefit of the insurance industry.

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