Couple sues hotel because their sex life was ruined after painful incident in hotel room

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

62-year-old Michael Farchi was spending the 2023 Christmas holidays at the Palazzo Tower when he woke up with a painful feeling in his groin area.

The Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

According to a lawsuit filed by Michael and his wife Batia, he “additionally felt several stabbing sensations in his hand and groin area.”

Farchi was horrified to discover that he had had an uninvited visitor in his room during the night and that this was the cause of his pain.

It was a scorpion that had crawled under the bed covers and stung him in the testicles and hand while he was sleeping.

Since the incident, Farchi has filed a lawsuit claiming that he suffered numerous health problems as a result of the arachnid.

These include PTSD and erectile dysfunction, as well as a separate lawsuit filed by Batia alleging “loss of marital community” due to the alleged negative impact on her sex life.

The Scorpion in Question (Brian Virag)

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

He told 8 News Now: “She claims that her sexual relationship has suffered significantly since the incident.”

Farchi recalled: “I didn't know what it was. It felt like a sharp knife or glass was stabbing me.”

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

Virag said: “It really doesn’t matter how it got there.

“The fact that it was there and that they were aware that there had been previous problems with scorpions on the property in question is obviously the main point here.”

The lawyer added: “To our knowledge, construction work was taking place at the time of the incident.”

The couple is suing the hotel (Facebook)

Farchi also recalled feeling like he wasn't taken seriously enough when he informed staff about the injury. He said staff “just held their groins and laughed about it. It was really embarrassing.”

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

It is believed that the scorpion was an Arizona bark scorpion – the only North American species considered dangerous to humans.

In the lawsuit, Farchi is seeking damages to cover his past and future medical expenses as well as his mental anguish, pain and suffering, loss of companionship and joy in life.

The Palazzo Tower Hotel stated in an acting proceeding: “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 these were followed in this incident.”