Couple sues hotel, claiming their sex life was ruined after painful hotel room incident

A couple has filed a lawsuit against a Las Vegas hotel after an unfortunate encounter in one of the rooms during their stay.

Michael Farchi, 62, was staying at the Palazzo Tower over the 2023 Christmas holidays when he woke up with a painful sensation in his groin.

According to a complaint filed by Michael and his wife Batia, “he experienced multiple additional tingling sensations on his hand and in his groin area.”

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.

It was a scorpion that had crawled under the sheets and stung him on the testicles and hand while he was sleeping.

Since the incident, Farchi has filed a lawsuit claiming he suffered a number of adverse effects from the arachnid.

These include post-traumatic stress disorder and erectile dysfunction, as well as a separate lawsuit filed by Batia, who claims “loss of consortium” due to the alleged adverse effect on their sex lives.

Brian Virag of My Bed Bug Lawyer is among the attorneys representing Farchi.

He told 8 News Now: “She claims their sexual relationship has suffered significantly since the operation.”

Farchi recalls: “I didn’t know what it was. It felt like I had been stabbed by a sharp knife or glass.”

The 62-year-old explained that after feeling the pain, he searched under the covers and found the scorpion before immediately alerting hotel staff.

Virag said: “Actually, it doesn’t really matter how he got there.

“The fact that he was there and they were informed that there were previous scorpion problems on the property in question is obviously the main point here.”

The lawyer added: “From what we understand, construction work was underway at the time this incident occurred.”

Farchi also recalled that he did not feel he was taken seriously enough when he informed staff of his injury, saying staff “were just holding their groin and laughing about it. It was really embarrassing.”

Farchi was later diagnosed with “scorpion sting poisoning” at Summerlin Hospital, according to the lawsuit.

The scorpion is believed to have been an Arizona bark scorpion – the only North American species considered dangerous to humans.

In this lawsuit, Farchi seeks 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 statement, the Palazzo Tower hotel said: “To protect the privacy of our guests, we are unable to comment on this incident. The resort has protocols in place for all incidents and we can confirm that they were followed during this incident.”