Vermonter Awarded $490K in Legionnaires’ Disease Suit Against Inn

A woman who contracted Legionnaires’ disease after staying at a Vermont hotel in 2008 has been awarded about $490,000 by a jury.

The Rutland Herald Reports the lawyer for 57-year-old Gail Stevens of Bennington says she’s pleased with the amount. She stayed at the Cortina Inn in March 2008. The owners of the now closed, which declared bankruptcy, did not respond to the complaint.

The inn was closed twice in 2008 at the request of the Vermont Department of Health because of problems with the water. The state worked with the inn’s staff and owners to clean and upgrade the water supply.

But after the water tested positive in June 2008 for the presence of Legionella pneumophila, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, the inn was shut down again.