A woman has sued her landlord after claiming a spider infestation led to doctors amputating two of her toes.
The incident happened in Florida. Patricia Shields filed a lawsuit on November 25 against Grand Oak Apartments in Largo. She's suing for $50,000. According to Shields, she fled her apartment due an ongoing spider infestation.
"It's been a long year, I just want it to be over," Shields, who moved into her unit in November 2024, told WBDJ. "They hurt. They burned. It's a burning feeling."
She also said the spider infestation led to amputation. She describes it, "It's embarrassing and I hate having to explain myself all the time."
Spider Infestation Causes Toe Amputation
According to Shields, she first noticed spiders coming out of a bathroom vent just two weeks after moving in. However, management declined to have the spider infestation handled. Staff suggested that she could pay to have an exterminator handle the spiders. But Shields says she is "disabled, on a fixed income, and residing at the property under the Section 8 program."
From that point on, Shields began to get spider bites. First, she was bit on the forehead. Then she found bites on her legs as well. She ended up having "multiple visits to a doctor and ongoing treatment." The complex claimed the spiders were non-venomous. However, research online showed that one was a brown recluse, according to shield.
In June 2025, Shields says a brown recluse bit her on her big toe in the bathroom. Doctors ultimately amputated her toe due to health concerns. Grand Oak allegedly refused to release her from her lease despite Shields suffering nine spider bites. In August, she had a second toe amputated due to a spider bite.
Since then, the woman claims she has been homeless due to leaving the apartment and breaking her lease.
