Venetian Guest Claims Scorpion Stung His Testicles, Now Talking Lawsuit

An unwelcome visitor in a California man’s bed at the Palazzo and Venetian Resort Las Vegas left him in excruciating pain – and ready to turn to the courts for relief. 

While plenty of people can claim to have left Vegas feeling stung, Michael Farchi is alleging that he really was – by a scorpion in his bed. He claims that on Dec. 26, he was awoken in the morning by a sharp sensation between his legs. He says he investigated and found a 1- to 2-inch scorpion clinging to his blue Reebok underwear.

Arachnids in Your Underpants

Farchi, from Agoura Hill, California, sat with his attorney, Brian Virag, while telling his story to Las Vegas 8 News now. 

Virag, the founder of MyBedBugLawyer.com, provided Channel 8 an incident report filed with the Venetian, but no indication that Farchi required immediate medical attention. 

Farchi  says the experience left him traumatized, with ongoing health issues since the scorpion attack. He says he was stung 3 or 4 times.

Heebee-Geebee Threats 

Parent casino property Venetian Las Vegas issued a statement saying that the resort has protocols in place to handle such matters, and they were being followed in this instance. 

We’re no lawyer nor entomologist, so consider this for entertainment purposes only. But Google tells us for the types of scorpions around the Las Vegas Valley, this was either a relatively harmless yellow ground scorpion, or a bark scorpion, the most venomous in North America.

If a yellow scorpion stung or “bit” him, he would’ve noticed some immediate irritation, swelling and pain. If a bark scorpion attacked him, Farchi might’ve been keeled over with twitching and convulsions, vomiting and nausea, and possibly foaming at the mouth, paralysis and death.

Meanwhile, if the Venetian had to pay out every time a surprise guest ended up in a customer’s bed and left behind a burning sensation in their groin … well, that could be problematic, too.

UPDATE: Expert Says It Looks Like a Bark Scorpion

 Dr. Michael Webber, a biology professor at the College of Southern Nevada who has written extensively on scorpions in the area, tells Casinos.com:

"Of course to be 100% sure, it would be best to view the scorpion in person, but from the pictures it appears to be an Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus). You can tell the difference by looking at the tail. Yellow ground scorpions have a more robust tail, while bark scorpions have a more slender tail."

Weber says these scorpions are indeed "capable of stinging multiple times in rapid succession, so it is possible to get stung more than once in just a few seconds."

And though she explains that not all stings from a bark scorpion result in the most severe symptoms, they can and sometimes do.  

"If someone were stung by a bark scorpion they could feel anything from just pain at the sting site, to painful burning, stinging, or swelling. The venom does affect the central nervous system so they could also experience a variety of other symptoms like numbness that spreads from the original sting site," she says. "In the most serious of cases it could lead to anaphylaxis. Most adults typically feel the less severe symptoms, while extremely young children, the elderly, or people with compromised immune systems might experience the more severe symptoms."