A jury recently awarded $5.35 million to a 79-year-old woman who suffered severe injuries when she was swarmed by fire ants at a nursing home in Alabama. An employee of Greystone Retirement Community in Huntsville discovered Lucille Devers covered with ants when she entered her room to deliver laundry. Devers was immediately rushed to a shower, but not before she had sustained hundreds of bites that eventually led to a staph infection.

Devers filed suit against Greystone and Terminix International Co., the nursing home's pest-control provider, alleging the incident caused her emotional distress, permanent injury and pain and suffering. She alleged Greystone employees complained to nursing home administrators of the ant problem prior to the incident and that Terminix failed to properly perform its monthly pesticide services.