Des Moines Hearing Set on $2.45M Bedbug Suit Settlement

A judge has scheduled a three-day hearing to hear any objections to the proposed $2.45 million settlement of a lawsuit over bedbugs at two downtown Des Moines, Iowa, apartment buildings.

The Des Moines Register reports that payments to the estimated 300 current and former residents of Elsie Mason Manor and Ligutti Tower could range from $200 to $6,000.

Residents filed the lawsuit in March 2010 seeking money for back rent, lost property and other hardships.

The class-action lawsuit alleged violations of Iowa’s consumer protection law and said the apartment managers assured tenants that the apartments were habitable despite knowing of the bedbug problem. Court documents indicate the residents said their apartments have had bedbugs for years and that residents had been bitten, scarred and deprived of sleep.