Bedbugs have been living among the wealthy in New York City for so long now, it makes sense they’ve come to believe they should be allowed to “summer” as well. Nonetheless, Jill Taft, a designer in the process of “resuming her catwalk career,” and her filmmaker husband, Joel Roodman, were shocked and horrified to find that the house they rented for $18,000 in East Hampton this year was crawling with the suckers, resulting in Jill’s glorious model face being so swollen and bitten they had to stop at the emergency room in Queens, for the love of God. Obviously, the pair has hired a lawyer to sue the house’s owner, as they fear permanent scarring on Jill’s face as well as their egos. Lawyer Douglas Hoffer tells Andrea Peyser:
“This is not a $40-a-night Red Roof Inn trip. They were off for summer vacation. They hired a nanny from overseas.”
The house’s owner disputes the charges, saying that the Taft-Roodmans probably brought the bugs with them; everyone knows that all of New York City is infested. According to Douglas Stern, owner of Stern Environmental Group exterminators, there’s an explanation for that, too: dirty nasty poor foreigners.
He said travelers ship vermin from abroad. “In the Hamptons, the help could be bringing them in.”
Of course, the Taft-Roodmans will have to go ahead with their suit, anyway, as you cannot sue the poor. What will they give you, a handful of beads and a yucca plant?
Not the dune ‘buggies’ she had in mind [NYP]
Related: The Cut’s coverage of the recent bedbug epidemic [The Cut]
