Kit Roberts
A couple have filed a lawsuit against a Las Vegas hotel after an unfortunate encounter in one of the rooms during their stay.
Michael Farchi, 62, had been staying at the Palazzo Tower in the Christmas holidays in 2023 when he woke up to a painful sensation in his groin.
According to a lawsuit filed by Michael and his wife Batia, 'he felt multiple additional stinging sensations on his hand and groin area.'
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Farchi was horrified to discover that he had had an unwanted visitor in the room during the night which was the source of the pain.
This was a scorpion which had crawled under the sheets and stung him on testicles and hand while he was sleeping.
Since the incident, Farchi has filed a lawsuit claiming that he has suffered a number off ill effects as a result of the arachnid.
These include PTSD and erectile dysfunction, as well as separate lawsuit by Batia, which claims 'loss of consortium', due to the alleged ill effect on their sex life.
Brian Virag of My Bed Bug Lawyer is among the lawyers representing Farchi.
He told 8 News Now: "She is alleging that their sexual relationship has suffered significantly since the sting."
Farchi recalled: "I didn't know what it was. It felt like a sharp knife or glass stabbing me."
The 62-year-old explained that after experiencing the pain, he had reached under the covers and found the scorpion before immediately alerting hotel staff.
Virag said: "It really doesn't matter, so much, how it got there.
"The fact that it was there and they were on notice that there were prior issues of scorpions at the subject property that's obviously the main point here."
The lawyer added: "From our understanding, there was some ongoing construction at the time that this incident happened."
Farchi also recalled that he didn't feel that he was taken seriously enough when he informed staff of the injury, saying that staff were 'just holding their groin area and laughing about it. It was really embarrassing.'
Farchi was later diagnosed with 'poisoning: Scorpion Sting' at Summerlin Hospital, according to the lawsuit.
It is believed that the scorpion was an Arizona bark scorpion - the only North American species considered dangerous to humans.
In the lawsuit, Farchi is seeking damages to cover his past and future medical expenses, as well as his mental anguish, pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and loss of enjoyment of life.
In a state the Palazzo Tower hotel said: "To preserve the privacy of our guests, we're unable to comment on this incident. The resort has protocols for all incidents and we can confirm they were followed in this incident."