LOS ANGELES, March 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A California jury has returned a six-figure verdict against Great Wolf Lodge following a trial involving a family exposed to bed bugs at a company-operated hotel property in Manteca, California.
The jury awarded $254,500 in damages, and with approximately $30,000 in court costs, the judgment has now been paid in full, bringing the total amount paid to approximately $284,500 following post-trial proceedings.
Unlike the overwhelming majority of bed bug cases, which resolve confidentially before trial, this matter was presented to a jury and tried to verdict.
The trial was handled by Brian Virag, founder of MyBedBugLawyer,Inc., (https://www.mybedbuglawyer.com), a California-based trial practice devoted exclusively to hotel bed bug litigation.
The family involved has elected to speak publicly about the experience, describing the physical, emotional, and financial toll of the exposure, as well as the strain of enduring a jury trial after being repeatedly told that cases like theirs “do not go to trial.”
“Every lawyer we spoke to said the same thing that bed bug cases never make it to a jury,” said a member of the family. “Brian was the only lawyer who explained how difficult it would be and showed us he had already taken these cases to trial and won.”
The Great Wolf Lodge verdict follows a series of recent jury awards obtained by Virag, including a $2 million jury verdict earlier in 2025 and a separate California jury award of nearly $500,000 in December 2025, all involving hotel guest injuries that were tried to verdict rather than resolved quietly.
Legal observers note that jury trials involving bed bug exposure remain extraordinarily rare due to evidentiary complexity, cost, and risk factors that have historically deterred litigation beyond early settlement.
“These cases are not about rolling the dice,” Virag added. “They require years of focus, institutional knowledge, and a willingness to absorb risk that very few lawyers are prepared to take on.”
While bed bug exposure remains the most common form of hotel guest injury litigated to verdict, Virag’s recent work has also expanded into other hotel guest exposure cases, including pending scorpion-bite cases at major Las Vegas resort properties, which Virag says stem from the same underlying failures in on-site safety and environmental controls.
“Once you understand how hotels fail to prevent bed bug exposure, you begin to see the same breakdowns elsewhere,” Virag said. “Bed bugs are the most frequent example. Scorpions are rarer. But the negligence and the jury reaction to it is the same.”
The verdict is final, and payment has been made.
About MyBedBugLawyer
MyBedBugLawyer (https://www.mybedbuglawyer.com) is a California-based trial practice devoted exclusively to representing hotel guests injured by bed bug exposure and related hotel safety failures. The firm is nationally recognized for taking bed bug cases to jury verdict against major hospitality brands and litigates select hotel guest exposure cases nationwide.
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SOURCE My Bed Bug Lawyer Inc.
