Man sues Napa hotel after contracting Legionnaires' disease
NAPA – A man who alleges he caught Legionnaires' disease after a hotel in Napa was contaminated last summer has filed a lawsuit.
In August, Embassy Suites Napa Valley, owned by Hilton, was identified by Napa County health officials to have held high levels of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires', which infected at least 12 people in the area and killed one.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Jason Groshart, 51, of Calistoga, alleges that he was exposed to Legionella bacteria while he was celebrating the Fourth of July in downtown Napa.
Though Groshart was never at the Embassy Suites on California Boulevard, he is suing them for negligence, alleging that contaminated water from the hotel had the capability to affect people "up to 3.7 miles away" from its source. His lawyers cite a 2006 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that says infected droplets can span out from their original source.
According to the lawsuit, Groshart had dinner a mile away from the hotel during the holiday and inhaled aerosolized water droplets emitted from the hotel's cooling tower.
In August, the cooling tower and decorative fountain at the Embassy Suites Napa Valley were identified by Napa County health officials, the California Department of Public Health and the CDC as holding an unsafe amount of Legionella bacteria, which Groshart's attorneys allege was at nearly 30 times the acceptable level.
The bacteria cause a type of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease and typically grows in warm water. Contaminated water can then be aerosolized via air conditioning units, hot tubs, cooling misters and decorative fountains. It is not spread person-to-person and none of the people who acquired the illness in Napa were confirmed to have visited the hotel, the county said at the time.
Groshart's case alleges that neither the hotel's cooling tower nor its fountain were properly maintained or serviced.
Lawyers for Groshart allege that the hotel initially refused to allow health officials to inspect the cooling tower and did so only after being officially ordered to by a health officer on Aug. 2.
A Hilton spokesperson said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
According to Groshart's claim, on July 14 he was admitted to a hospital in Santa Rosa with symptoms consistent with Legionnaires', which was diagnosed the following day. He had to be intubated and remained on a ventilator until July 31, and he "almost died," according to his claim. He was eventually discharged on Aug. 4.
