Toxic mold's uprooting effect

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http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/15/Citrus/Toxic_mold_s_uprootin.shtml

Toxic mold's uprooting effect

First came sickness. Then the walls came tumbling down after deadly mold caused them to flee their home. Cases like one local couple's have sent the country's insurers scrambling.

By RICHARD RAEKE, Times Staff Writer© St. sburg Timespublished June 15, 2003

HOMOSASSA - For a year now, Hill has lived a nightmare of mold. His dream house is hacked apart, drywall stripped, floors bare and furniture gone. The mold spores coat the two-by-fours, held back only by plastic sheeting. If released, they would burn your eyes, grate your lungs and cause all-around misery, Hill said.

"This was our hallway," he said while touring the home. "This was our bedroom." In the bathroom only the pipes remain. The Hills moved into a rented house four days before Christmas. They haven't been able to move back into their Riverhaven home since.

"There are many kinds of mold and all I can tell you is that we have the kind that can kill you," he said.

It was Buddy who suffered the symptoms of toxic mold first. The 4-year-old Yorkie came down with breathing troubles and sores on his back in early 2002. His behavior changed and soon he wouldn't enter the Florida room, the apparent source of his problems, at all. Even now, Hill has to coax Buddy through the 22-year-old house.

It was also in the Florida room where Hill and his wife, Fran, first felt their eyes burn and smelled that musty odor. Fran Hill went to the doctor in early 2002 complaining of breathing problems. Since then, Hill said, he and his wife have been diagnosed with emphysema. And last June, testing revealed toxic mold in their home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most common effects of mold are "hay fever-like allergic symptoms." But links to more serious illnesses are still unknown.

Overall, toxic molds, most commonly Stachbotrys chartarum, "may cause health symptoms that are nonspecific. At At present there is no test that proves an association between Stachbotrys chartarum (Stachbotrys atra) and particular symptoms," the CDC says.

Mold can grow on sheetrock, particle board and drywall, stemming from water damage, humidity, leaks and flooding. Hill suspects a leaky shower pipe and air handling unit created the moisture necessary for the mold.

Look up toxic mold on the Internet and you're bound to find testing services offering their expertise, remediation companies looking for a cleanup job and personal injury lawyers scrambling for a lawsuit.

"They have a saying, "Mold is gold,"' said Tom Hagerty, spokesman for State Farm in Florida, which has the largest share of the homeowners insurance market in the state.

Hagerty said the number of toxic mold claims to his company has jumped from 37 in 2000 to more than 950 in 2002. Before 2000, there weren't enough claims to track.

The company asked the Office of Insurance Regulation to allow it to drop mold coverage on homeowners insurance policies and offer it separately. That was denied, but last week, administrative law judge Cave sided with the company.

Although Cave's decision is nonbinding, Bob Lotane, spokesman for the Office of Insurance Regulation, said the agency is reviewing his order. If insurance regulators deny State Farm's request, the insurance company can take its case to the 1st District Court of Appeal, where it would receive a binding decision.

Lotane said roughly 200 insurance companies are watching the case closely as they have similar requests to limit toxic mold claims or drop it from homeowners insurance policies altogether.

Some chalk it up to Ed McMahon's dead dog, Muffin. The former Tonight Show sidekick sued his insurance company and several cleanup contractors for $20-million claiming toxic mold killed his pet and sickened himself and his wife. McMahon later settled for $230,000, according to news reports.

Such high-profile cases and the "avalanche" of claims filed in Texas and California have struck fear in the insurance companies, Lotane said.

Hill has wrestled with his carrier, Federated Insurance, for months over the cleanup of his house. A remediation contractor started the work, taking out the carpets, tearing off the drywall, sanding down the studs and coating them in white paint. It then stopped because of some wrangling over the bill with the insurance company.

They left the house half-completed, plastic sheeting hanging over the walls, mold still apparent in some spots, Hill said.

After negotiations with the insurance company, Hill said the cleanup appears to be back on track. In all, the remediation contractor did $60,000's worth of work. By the end of it, Hill said he expects the expense to near $200,000, including rent the couple has paid to live elsewhere.

He hopes to be back in the house by fall. For others with mold, Hill recommends hiring an attorney with experience in toxic mold and getting everything in writing from the insurance company to the cleanup contractors.

He believes doing so would have gotten him back into his home sooner and saved him some stress. At one time, he considered moving into the garage to save some money. Now, he feels more optimistic, but is still guarded.

"I was hoping to retire, but this has come up and put a crimp in everything," he said.

- Raeke can be reached at 564-3623 or rraeke@...

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