LA Post reports that a Ventura County jury has awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to two men who alleged they were bitten by bed bugs while staying at a hotel in Ventura.

Awards of punitive damages in bed bug cases are not new, but the amount amount of the award in this case raises the bar. Back in 2003, Judge Posner penned a Seventh Circuit opinion that affirmed an award of $186,000 in punitive damages in a bed bugs case. That opinion made a splash at the time because the punitive damages were so much higher than the jury’s $5,000 compensatory damages award.

It will be interesting to see whether the much larger punitive award in this case survives posttrial and appellate review.