A plumbing issue at a Pennsylvania casino is alleged to have created a messy situation, with one woman playing slots at the property claiming to have been covered in fecal matter. She has now sued, arguing that the experience left her in the hospital for over two weeks.
Rita Romagnoli, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was playing slots with her husband at Live! Casino at the Westmoreland Mall in Pittsburgh on July 28 when an overhead pipe in the facility burst, drenching her in fecal matter. The lawsuit alleges that she contracted a serious illness and was in the hospital for 15 days.
“She didn’t know what had fallen on her, but it didn’t take her long to figure out it smelled pretty bad,” Romagnoli’s attorney Joseph Hudock Jr. told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “She didn’t know what had happened. A couple days later, she ended up in the hospital with bacterial pneumonia.”
“It was very traumatizing. She could have died.”
Seeking Compensation
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that bacterial pneumonia can cause fever, cough, dyspnea (a sensation of running out of the air and of not being able to breathe fast enough or deeply enough), and chest pain. Some of the potential complications include necrotizing pneumonia and empyema (a collection of pus in the pleural cavity), meningitis, sepsis, and multiple organ failure. The NIH notes that some long-term concerns include pulmonary function and quality of life.
Romagnoli and her husband are also suing the mall owner and seeking $30,000 in damages. The suit argues that the casino and mall knew of the plumbing issue and should have taken steps to prevent this type of incident.
“It’s something that should never have happened,” Hudock said. “The law says the owner of a business has the duty to inspect for defects to make sure the premises are safe for the purpose for which the public is invited on them.”
Neither the casino nor the mall have yet to comment on the lawsuit.