Ocean City Hotel Rebuffs $6M Legionnaires Lawsuit

The owners of a historic hotel in Ocean City, Md. are seeking to have a $6 million lawsuit dismissed, despite the plaintiff's claims that he fell ill with Legionnaires Disease after his stay at the oceanfront hotel last summer.

Six guests of the Plim Plaza Hotel were treated for Legionnaires Disease, and one elderly gentleman later died after their stay at the Boardwalk hotel sent turned into a nightmare.

The lawsuit is the first of what is expected to be many against the Harrison Group, the resort's largest landowner, and the owner of the Plim Plaza and several other hotels on the island. Pat Eldon Dent Jr. says he was hospitalized and had to breathe and eat out of a tube for more than six weeks after his stay at the hotel, racking up more than $200,000 in medical bills.

But the bulk of the lawsuit is targeted towards the hotel's alleged negligence for not monitoring or adequately maintaining its water system, which was found to have traces of legionella bacteria in the investigation that followed the outbreak.

However, the Harrison Group has denied all charges, saying through their lawyer in their official response to the lawsuit that they did all they were supposed to do as required by law, and thus, are moving to dismiss the entire case.