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Lawyer With Bed Bugs Falling Out Of His Clothes Causes Courthouse Evacuation

That's one way to get a case adjourned...

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A lawyer whose clothing was allegedly teeming with bed bugs caused an entire courthouse to evacuate and close.

Yesterday morning, an attorney in Claremore, Oklahoma, arrived at the Rogers County Courthouse and went to a third-floor courtroom, where someone saw “something crawling on his neck.” According to Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton, the lawyer later removed his jacket and placed it over some files, and once the jacket was removed, bed bugs fell out of it and onto the files. News on 6 has additional details on what happened:

The sheriff’s office isn’t releasing the lawyer’s name but says it was the last thing they wanted to deal with on a busy Monday morning.

“One judge had 146 cases on her docket for this morning, and it all had to be passed because of this. So, it’s gonna set us back but we will have to make that up,” said Sgt. Mike Clark.

Once the bugs were found, the County Commissioner and emergency management decided not to take any risks and shuttered the building until 8 a.m. Tuesday morning while exterminators spray.

Here’s a notice that was placed on the Rogers County Courthouse door:

“We are certainly not happy with someone coming in that condition to inconvenience everyone else in that building,” said Sheriff Walton. Sergeant Mike Clarke, head of security for the Rogers County Courthouse, said, “We’ve evacuated for fire alarms and bomb threats but never to my knowledge for bed bugs.”

One Facebook commenter says this isn’t the first time the attorney in question has caused a bed bug scare, saying, “He’s a menace. He’s done it in Tulsa County as well.”

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Thankfully, the lawyer’s name isn’t being released to the public. While this is particularly nauseating because this lawyer had to have known what was happening — as Sheriff Walton noted, it’s “[h]ard to imagine someone doesn’t know … that some bed bugs are crawling all over them certainly in abundance” — this is an obvious matter of mental health and wellness in the legal profession. A practicing attorney has allegedly been to court on numerous occasions with an active bed bug infestation, and he’s being referred to as a “menace” whose condition served as an “inconvenience.”

Please check up on your colleagues, and if you think that something seems off, talk to them about the situation and make sure they get help. If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call a lawyer assistance program in your state (don’t be fooled by the name; these programs also provide services to law students as well).

Lawyer with bed bugs falling out of clothing causes Rogers County Courthouse to close early Monday [KJRH-TV]
Bedbugs Close Rogers County Courthouse [News on 6]
Update: Rogers County Courthouse reopens after bedbug scare [Tulsa World]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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