Beverly Hilton guest settles with Hilton management over staph infection
LOS ANGELES - A motivational speaker and business consultant, who alleged that he contracted a staph infection during a facial treatment at the Beverly Hilton's spa in 2016, reached a settlement with the hotel's management, court papers obtained Wednesday show.
Lawyers for plaintiff Larry Poe filed a notice of settlement with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen L. Goorvitch on Aug. 30. No terms of the settlement with Hilton Management LLC were divulged.
The suit filed in May 2017 stated that Poe, who lives in Texas, was a guest at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 23, 2016. Poe travels nationwide to give speeches and attend events, according to his court papers.
During the facial treatment at the Aqua Star, an aesthetician used tweezers to try to pull a hair from the left side of Poe's upper lip, the suit stated.
"Upon being poked by the tweezers, (the) plaintiff experienced a sting of pain in his left upper lip and a small wound opened," the suit stated.
The worker applied a cream to Poe's lip, but it swelled and continued doing so for the next three days without any signs of healing, according to the lawsuit.
Poe was admitted to a hospital four days later and was diagnosed with MRSA, an infection caused by a type of bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections, according to the lawsuit.
Defense attorneys maintained in their court papers that Poe had a MRSA infection before he entered the spa. No one else had ever complained of contracting such an infection while at the spa or hotel, according to the defense attorneys' court papers.
Poe said he was isolated in quarantine at the hospital for four days.
He was left with a scar on the left side of his lip that is noticeable, negatively affecting his appearance as a motivational speaker and forcing him to take time off from his speaking engagements, according to his court papers.