Mold in The News

Illinois: Michael Jordan can be added to the list of high profile celebrities whose homes have been infected with mold. Jordan is suing a manufacturer of the synthetic stucco that he claimed trapped moisture and caused $2.6 million in damages and repair to his Chicago home.

Maine:  A severe mold infestation results in the permanent closing of a 50-year-old elementary school.

Mold Lawsuits Have Become Commonplace
in the 21st Century

New Jersey: Three years ago a 2-year-old girl suffered from a terrible and unexplained illness and headaches. Tests for cystic fibrosis, leukemia and other diseases proved negative and the illness continued. The mother concluded that something in the house was making her daughter sick and to sometimes throw up for 7 to 10 days. The head of a diagnostic center at a children’s hospital concurred that vacating the house might improve the child’s condition. Upon a subsequent discovery of rampant mold inside a crawlspace, the family immediately left the home. Today, except for occasional asthma flare ups, the now healthy 5-year-old remembers feeling she was so sick she thought she was going to die.

Indiana: A former deputy prosecutor claims she was fired after being a whistle-blower and complaining that mold in her Lake County office caused her chronic headaches, coughing, fatigue and respiratory infections. Others in the office were also suffering from illnesses. Her complaints to managers in the prosecutor’s office about the environmental hazards prompted a heated exchange and her subsequent firing. In Fall 2003, Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration tested the office and discovered bacteria and two kinds of mold that cause allergies and can lead to diseases. The former deputy prosecutor is filing suit against Lake County.

California: The Incredible Hulk overcomes another, yet unlikely foe — MOLD. Lou Ferrigno, former bodybuilder, television and movie star, and his wife reached a settlement with Mercury Insurance for negligence of one of their inspectors. The Ferrignos alleged that the company’s inspector failed to locate and repair a faulty leak that prompted mold damages to several rooms in their home. The repair work took over a year to complete.

California: A plaintiff in a mold lawsuit initially awarded multi-millions of dollars in punitive damages against Allstate has died at age 99. He was a few days short of his 100th birthday on April 12. In 1999 the plaintiff refused Allstate’s offer of $17,300 to repair his home and filed a lawsuit for the company’s bad-faith dealings in handling his homeowner’s insurance claim. A three-week trial in 2000 resulted in a jury awarding him $18 million in punitive damages — the presiding judge lowered the amount to $2.5 million. An appeals court then stripped the near centenarian of the $2.5 million in punitive damages and awarded him $628,646, an amount that paid his nearly $239,000 in legal fees and $290,000 to put toward home repairs.

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