Is mold harmful to your
health?
Read the stories below to find the answer!
Ed McMahon Sues
Over Mold, Says Dog Died
Los Angeles Times, April 09, 2002
LOS ANGELES
- Entertainer Ed McMahon is suing his insurance company for more
than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold
that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors
cleaning up water damage from a broken pipe botched the job.
Both McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as
did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles
Superior Court suit. The McMahons also blame the mold for the
death of the family dog, Muffin.
Their suit was filed late Monday against American Equity Insurance
Co., a pair of insurance adjusters, and several environmental
cleanup contractors. It seeks monetary damages for alleged breach
of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional
distress.
A spokeswoman for the insurance company declined comment.
The trouble began in late July, when a pipe broke in the couple's
six-bedroom, Mediterranean-style house, which was filled with
memorabilia from Ed McMahon's long television career. The den
was flooded. A month later, mold was discovered in the den.
The McMahons charge in court papers that they were assured they
were safe and could remain in the house during the cleanup, even
as the mold spread through the heating and air conditioning ducts
to their bedroom. It invaded the closets, contaminating their
clothes. It also was found under the Jacuzzi in the master bathroom.
The McMahons questioned the contractors' cleanup methods - including
simply painting over the mold. As the job became more expensive
and complex, the insurance company and its contractors abandoned
it, the suit charged.
"They covered it until they realized how expensive it was,
and then they covered up," said McMahon lawyer Allan Browne.
"What they did was spread the mold by allowing it to go into
the air conditioning and heating ducts. When they screwed up,
they started saying, 'Maybe we're not responsible for this job.'
"
"When your family loses its health and your home is a wasteland,
that's a colossal disaster," McMahon said Tuesday.
The McMahons' 8,000-square-foot house overlooking Coldwater Canyon
now stands gutted as the entertainer, his insurance company and
the environmental cleanup contractors argue over who should pay
to finish the cleanup, according to court papers. The McMahons
are living in a $23,000-a-month rented house, and, Browne said,
have no idea where their insurance company has stored their clothing,
furniture, artwork and memorabilia.
"Hopefully, it's safe, but we don't know where it is,"
Browne said.
"The mold that grew in this case, was the poisonous variety,
stachybotrys chartarum," said Browne. "This is the most
dangerous mold of all. It can cause death in people who are susceptible
to respiratory ailments."
The McMahons' dog, a mutt named Muffin that resembled a sheepdog,
was in perfect health until she suddenly became sick at about
the same time the mold was discovered, Browne said. "She
was a sweetheart of a dog, incredibly smart, as frisky as you
can imagine," the lawyer said. "All of a sudden she
got this terrible respiratory ailment, and they had to put her
down," Browne said.
McMahon, best known as the affable sidekick to late night talk
show host Johnny Carson, spent most of the fall coughing, sneezing,
and congested. "Nobody could figure out why he was unable
to breathe," Browne said. He spent four months on antibiotics
and had to cancel several speaking engagements. Finally, his doctor
ordered him out of the house, and his health improved.
Ed McMahon Settles Toxic Mold Lawsuit for $7M
News Source: Reuters
Published Date: May 07, 2003
Editor's Summary:
Former "Tonight Show" sidekick Ed McMahon obtained a
$7 million settlement from several companies he sued for allowing
toxic mold to infest his Los Angeles home, making his family sick
and killing his dog, a national mold litigation magazine reported.
McMahon ended the lawsuit with all but one of
the companies in confidential settlements.
But earlier this week, a Los Angeles Superior
Court judge ordered the settlement amounts made public.
Travelers
and American Equity Insurance companies and other related insurance
entities settled with McMahon for more than $5 million, according
to the hearing transcript. Four mold cleanup firms and two insurance
adjusters paid the rest of the sum.
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State
lawmakers told of potential health dangers
Anastasia Hendrix / SF Chronicle 8mar01
Sacramento
-- In her hallmark miniskirt and stilettos, Erin Brockovich came
to the Capitol yesterday -- not to talk about the crusade against
PG&E that made her famous, but about her personal battle against
the toxic molds ravaging her Southern California home.
The activist-turned-celebrity
was invited to address the Senate committee on Health and Human
Services by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), who heads the panel.
Ortiz recently introduced a bill that would institute the first
statewide policy regulating molds in the country.
"We need
to start with the establishment of a standard or exposure limit
for mold, and we don't have that standard in law now," said
Ortiz, who was unable to attend yesterday's hearing because of
a death in her family. "We have established measures for
lead and asbestos exposure, and I think this (mold) is akin to
those."
Brockovich told the panel that such legislation might have prevented
her from buying the sprawling Agoura Hills home she and her family
moved into in 1997. Two years later, she was constantly fatigued
and suffered from a range of respiratory problems and sinus infections.
Her 9-year-old daughter had severe coughing spells and watery
eyes.
After stubbing her toe on a raised floorboard, she began asking
the kinds of questions that led to the landmark lawsuit against
PG&E and the major Hollywood movie that bears her name.
"I began
to put two and two together," she said. "I have floors
coming up. Why? The house smelled musty. Why? Could there be a
water problem? And then I started thinking -- water, mold, what's
going on? I'm sick."
Tests confirmed her suspicions, revealing construction flaws and
high levels of several molds. Brockovich said blood tests revealed
a severe reaction to two of the molds that showed up in the test
results.
Repairs to
the 5,200-square-foot home have cost her more than $600,000, and
there is much work yet to be done. Though she insisted that toxic
mold is not her new cause, she admitted there is a connection.
"I think
it's such an irony -- the very reason I did Hinckley (Calif.)
is (because) people were sick, people I believed in, people who
had been lied to, people who had lost their health and their home
. . . and the same thing is happening to me," Brockovich
said, in an uncharacteristically soft voice.
More than
150 people attended yesterday's hearing, although only two of
the 11 committee members were present.
Brockovich
was one of 13 people to speak -- and her high-profile account
is just one of the dozens of nightmares Ortiz said she has learned
about while preparing the Toxic Mold Protection Act over the past
year.
Tulare County
Superior Court Judge Elisabeth Krant described how she experienced
episodes of vertigo, difficulty concentrating and hair loss before
a huge colony of toxic mold was found in her courtroom -- the
largest reported finding in the state so far. More than 250 other
courthouse employees have been affected or are on disability leave
because of mold-related illnesses.
While doctors
may not all agree on the health effects and state officials may
tangle over what action to take, Krant said, "I assure you,
all the victims know that they have been made sick by this stuff.
Something needs to be done."
Her voice
choked with emotion as she explained how her concerns were initially
dismissed and how rumors circulated about her going through menopause
and being "a hysterical female."
"It's
not just the issue of physical disability," she said. "It's
emotionally and mentally debilitating too."
Krant's comments
echoed the sentiments of hundreds of Hunters Point residents who
are suing the private company that owns the federally subsidized
apartments in which they live, alleging that chronically leaking
pipes and faulty plumbing have resulted in recurring mold and
myriad health problems.
Helen Jackson,
president of the All Hallows Gardens Residents Association, was
unable to attend yesterday's hearing but said she was relieved
that Ortiz was bringing the topic into the political arena.
"Everything
and anything they can do helps," she said.
But the 2 1/2-hour hearing underscored that it is unclear what,
if any, consensus on what to do can be reached.
One problem
is that there are as many as 100,000 types of molds, said Sandy
McNeel, a research scientist with the Department of Health Services.
And San Francisco allergist Abba Terr said that although many
assume a connection between molds and illness, "the public
health nuisance does not stand up to what we know about the biology
of molds."
Yet the explosion
of concern is impossible to ignore, said James Craner, a Nevada
doctor who has seen over 1,000 patients suffering from symptoms
related to mold exposure.
Craner said
he believes modern building materials, particularly gypsum wallboard
and other boarding not used commercially prior to 1960, create
an ideal breeding ground for molds.
Several representatives
from the construction, realty, insurance and apartment industries
said they supported Ortiz's investigation, which would also create
new real estate disclosure requirements and give local agencies
more authority to address mold problems.
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Farmers
Insurance must cough up $32 million in Texas toxic mold verdict
By Vicki Lankarge, Insure.com
A jury has awarded an Austin, Texas, family $32
million, concluding that a Farmers Insurance Group subsidiary
committed fraud by delaying and denying the family's home insurance
claim for mold damage.
A Travis County District Court jury agreed with
Melinda Ballard and her husband, Ron Allison, that Fire Insurance
Exchange, a Farmers subsidiary, failed to promptly cover the necessary
repairs for a water leak, thus allowing a toxic mold called "stachybotrys"
to invade the couple's 22-room mansion. The insidious black mold
forced them and their young son to abandoned the home in 1999.
On the advice of Dr. David Straus, a leading mold expert, they
left quickly with just the clothes on their backs.
Stachybotrys, a toxic mold that has been found
in all 50 states, has been named as the culprit in several high-profile
cases of "sick building syndrome." In the mid-90s, the
mold was blamed for the deaths 16 infants who suffered pulmonary
hemorrhages in Cleveland.
The Texas case is a legal landmark because it
is the first time that a jury has awarded a homeowner damages
in a mold case against an insurance company, rather than against
a builder or building owners. The jury's 11-1 decision of $32
million is based on:
· $6.2 million in actual damages. The house will have to
be decontaminated, leveled, and rebuilt.
· $12 million in punitive damages. This amount is a warning
to other insurers as well as a punishment for Farmers.
· $5 million for mental anguish.
· $8.9 million in lawyers' fees.
Farmers is waiting to see if Judge John Dietz
reduces the jury's award when he officially enters the judgment
on June 25, 2001. "We heard the jury's verdict," says
Mary Flynn, a Farmers spokesperson. "It is now up to the
court to enter a judgment in this case. Once that is done, we
will review that judgment and if an appeal is necessary, we are
confident we will prevail."
Homeowners and insurers eye case closely
Both homeowners and insurers are watching this case carefully.
Texas insurance law has a liberal stance toward coverage of mold
damage that is the direct result of a "covered peril,"
such as a burst water pipe. This is not true of most other states.
A standard home insurance policy typically does not cover losses
caused by rust, rot, mold or other fungi, even as a result of
a covered peril. Most insurers consider mold a "home maintenance"
issue.
But now Farmers wants out of having to cover mold,
too. The Texas Department of Insurance has scheduled a public
hearing on June 26, 2001, to gather testimony from consumers,
bankers, and insurers on whether it should ultimately grant Farmers
— and by extension, all insurers licensed to do business
in Texas — the right to exclude mold damage from coverage.
According to Farmers spokesperson Bill Miller, Farmers gets more
than two-thirds of its mold claims from Texas and is projecting
nearly a five-fold increase in its residential claims for mold
damage this year, costing the company about $85 million.
Texas homeowners with mold problems are alarmed.
Even if the mold in their homes doesn't cause any medical problems,
such as asthma problems, it can lead to "dry rot" and
eventually cause severe structural damage to their homes.
Picking the wrong person
The mold trial has garnered extensive publicity because of the
high media profile kept by Ballard, a former New York City public
relations executive. According to her lawyer, Houston attorney
Fred Hagans, when Farmers began its campaign to delay and deny
Ballard's mold claims, they picked the wrong person. "Melinda
wasn't going to take it lying down, or get frustrated, give up,
and go away," says Hagans.
Indeed, Ballard took to network television news
programs, local, and national radio stations, and the Internet
to tell her family's story. That story includes a son, who at
age 4 began coughing up blood, and a husband Ballard says had
to quit his job as an investment banker because he, too, began
coughing up blood and eventually suffered respiratory damage and
memory loss.
Hagans says he could not introduce medical testimony
on the health effects of mold at the trial because a Texas Supreme
Court decision mandates a level of scientific proof that has not
yet been reached in respect to the medical problems associated
with stachybotrys. However, even without medical testimony, the
jury sided with Ballard and Allison.
"This case wasn't about sympathy," says
Hagans. "It wasn't about 'Poor brain-damaged Ronny.' It was
about an insurer that failed to keep its promises and the jury
could very well imagine what happened to that family could happen
to them."
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