Mold cited in suit over deaths of two babies

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Southeast

Mold cited in suit over deaths of two babies

By Tim Ellis

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The families of two unrelated infants who died in a Southeast Side apartment

complex are suing its owners, saying they were negligent in failing to clean

up a persistent mold problem that the parents say caused the babies' deaths.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 13 in Pima County Superior Court, is the second

mold-related lawsuit filed against Utah-based Wasatch Property Management,

which owns the Eastside Place Apartments, 1800 S. Pantano Road.

The wrongful death complaint accuses Wasatch and several other companies and

individuals - who owned, managed, maintained or otherwise were involved in

the apartments - of negligence in failing to prevent, clean up and warn

occupants of the health risks of exposure to mold.

The other companies named in the complaint - and the first complaint, filed

Aug. 30 - include: Creekside Place Holdings LLC; Cienega/Pantano Business

Park Apartments Inc.; Clayton's Heating and Air Conditioning Inc.; C.S.H.

Associates Inc.; Abracadabra Restoration Inc.; and Boise Cascade Corp.

A Wasatch spokesman in Logan, Utah, the company's headquarters, and

Kuhn, the company's Tucson attorney, both declined to comment.

The lawsuit says 1-month-old Ezekiel Bullis and Kaitlin Swiegart, 2 months,

died as a result of exposure to mold in the apartments in which they lived.

Ezekiel died Sept. 17, 2000; Kaitlin died Sept. 29, 2000.

Residents say despite their repeated complaints about the problem, the

apartment complex's management took months to respond.

Bullis, Ezekiel's grandmother, said a May 22, 2001, report by medical

mycologist Mark Sneller on apartment 2144 - where she lived with her

husband, Dave, their son, , and daughter-in-law, Nikki - showed levels

of mold spores that " were so high they were outrageous. "

The report noted a high concentration of black mold - stachybotrys spores,

which produce potent mycotoxins - in the apartment, and an " extremely high

level " of aspergillus and penicillium.

Harold Hyams, the lawyer representing the two sets of parents, said the

babies were found dead in their cribs, and that the cause of death has been

attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

" The two children died within 10 days of each other, both were diagnosed

with SIDS, and they lived upstairs and downstairs in adjacent apartments, "

Hyams said Tuesday.

" There was high amount of mold found in " apartment 2144, where Ezekiel and

his family lived, he said.

" There is a strong temporal relationship, " between the presence of mold in

the apartment and the babies' deaths, Hyams said. " Which may be

coincidental - but seems very coincidental. "

" We're investigating any other relationships " between the babies' deaths, he

added.

Hyams also is representing 115 tenants of the Eastside Place Apartments who

are part of the earlier lawsuit.

That lawsuit says the tenants suffered health problems and ongoing nuisance

because Wasatch and the other firms and individuals failed to remove

persistent toxic mold.

Lesa Owen, manager of the 14-year-old complex, said in a Sept. 4 interview

that an extensive $1.2 million project to renovate all 443 apartments began

in February 2001 and should be completed in November.

Both lawsuits seek unspecified damages.

Hyams said if the first case goes to trial, it likely would begin in about

18 months.

* Contact reporter Tim Ellis at 807-8414 or at ltellis@....