Mold: Infestation and aggravation

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Mold: Infestation and aggravation

As claims increase, homeowners are often left in limbo

By Joe LightDaily PressJune 22 2003WILLIAMSBURG -- The Fedele family has been living out of a suitcase for more than nine months. Their exclusive burg home is practically empty and about half of its floor is gone. Signs on many of the windows warn passers-by to avoid entering. The only habitable area is in the sealed-off spa room to the rear of the house where the Fedeles have set up a makeshift office.For now, the family sleeps at the nearby Powhatan Plantation resort, changing rooms every so often to make room for the timeshare resort's arriving guests."We have one pot, one pan, and a few plates," says Carol Fedele. "If I told you how many omelets I've eaten since September, it's phenomenal." And an end to their nomadic life remains nowhere in sight. Nine months ago, the Fedele's insurance adjuster had all their possessions swept away to a location almost an hour from the house, where they sit in storage as the Fedeles fight to have their home reassembled. Until recently, the insurer forbade the Fedeles from removing the dead potted plants on the porch behind the house. Even a bag of rotting garbage had to fester outside for weeks until an adjuster came to photograph it. Such is the quality of life in a world invaded by toxic mold and the blame game that cripples efforts to get rid of it. Their anguish provides a unique, up-close look at the panic generated by a storm of litigation and media reports on a purportedly deadly problem that was not widely recognized until a few years ago.Mold, while seen as a nuisance to homeowners for many years, was only recently linked to serious health problems. No regulations govern the price or process of mold cleanup, which leaves insurers, homeowners and even professional cleaners in the dark about how best to fix the problem. The insurance industry has been hit so hard by exorbitant insurance claims and litigation that some of them won't even insure homes in certain areas.Bickering between insurers and adjusters continues to cloud the Fedele' hopes for an easy resolution. Thousands of dollars in repair costs have consumed much of the insurance coverage the Fedele counted on to protect them from catastrophes. Now, they fear they may have to pay for much of the remaining repairs out of their own pocket. For months the house has been in limbo, frozen by an insurance company's appraisal.This frustration hasn't kept professional cleaning services from making a huge profit. Fueled by an ever-rising number of claims, the mold business has sprouted dozens of mold certification agencies, cleaning companies and lawyers, bent on claiming their own stake in the mold rush.The Fedeles are stuck in the middle, still looking for the same thing after all these months: the return of their home. Neither Adelindo Fedele nor his wife, Carol, works full-time. Instead, they devote their time to fixing their mold problem. Carol Fedele still gets emotional as she recalls those first days after her family discovered that their problem was more serious than water damage. A cleaner with "Got Mold" license plates on his truck only had to take one look at their house before passing judgment and notifying the Fedele's adjuster. "He said, 'Mr. and Mrs. Fedele, you've got mold,'" she says. "And all of a sudden, they all agreed that we had to be out of the house."Nine months ago, while the Fedeles were visiting Palm Beach, Fla., a water hose leading to the refrigerator sprung a leak, sending gallons of water spewing over the walls and floor of their home. Although they learned about the leak and had a neighbor shut off the water soon after it happened, mold still spread over the walls and cabinets by the time they returned.After they were told that they could become sick if they stayed in the house, the Fedeles moved into a hotel room at the expense of the writer of their homeowners' policy, Farmers Insurance Group. All their possessions were taken from the house, decontaminated and put in a holding area. The cleaning service even removed their cabinets and part of the house's floor, and they have yet to be replaced.The home is contaminated with ten different species of toxigenic mold, according to tests the Fedeles commissioned. Although thousands of species of mold are found naturally in humid environments, poison-producing molds are not a problem unless they are allowed to thrive in an enclosed space. The most famous toxigenic species is Stachybotrys chartarum, known commonly as black mold, but tests on the Fedele's house did not reveal the presence of that particular species. Even molds that are not toxigenic can cause problems for people with allergies or respiratory conditions that are sensitive to the molds' spores.Months later - and after relentless battles with their insurance company and the cleaning service - the Fedeles are still homeless without most of their possessions. "We haven't even seen our television since September 20th," Carol Fedele says.Mold gold, as it has become known by some cleaning services, has been a bonanza. Mold remediators can reap thousands of dollars every time they recognize mold contamination and pledge to fix it.Insurance companies have found that they can't just ignore the problem either.When insurers are slow to treat a mold problem, they face major liability issues.Although most policies contain an exclusion for mold caused by humid conditions or maintenance problems, huge payouts in other states have spooked some insurers into considering policies that exclude all mold damage. Even mold caused by water from a burst pipe would not be covered. An especially noteworthy mold case in Texas resulted in a $32.1 million judgment against State Farm insurance. While the judgment was later reduced to just over $4 million, State Farm has stopped insuring most new homeowners in Texas as a result.Some insurance companies are already calling mold the asbestos of this decade. The losses of U.S. insurance companies due to asbestos could reach $65 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The problem is so severe that Congress is considering a ban on asbestos litigation and planning to set up a fund to compensate people who develop asbestos-related health problems in the future."From looking at Texas, it certainly looks like mold has that kind of potential," says Ed , a spokesman for State Farm in Virginia.Although says that State Farm has not received a significant increase in claims for Virginia, many local cleaners have had an exponential increase in business for mold remediation."Mold is a problem, but it's very regionalized," said Flynn, spokeswoman for Farmers Insurance in Los Angeles. "Not only us, but every carrier is being affected." , who goes by "," has a perfect view of the Fedele's decontaminated big-screen TV, which is wrapped in plastic, from his desk in ServPro's office in City. Just under an hour's drive from the Fedele's home, 's office has held most of their possessions for almost nine months. His franchise, which serves New Kent County and burg, specializes in fixing smoke and water damage but his work on mold cases has proliferated in the last couple years. He predicts that he gets nearly 30 percent of his business from mold remediation compared to just 2 percent four years ago. eyes the Fedele's misfortune with sympathy but notes that it's not uncommon in mold-related situations."It's a real emotional thing for a homeowner," he says. "It's sad because homeowners have to spend a lot of money. There aren't any laws in the state of Virginia saying how this process is supposed to work."So far, the mold-remediation business is almost wholly unregulated. Although there are many agencies that certify mold remediators around the country, the government has recognized none of them, and the EPA has yet to come out with standards of safe mold levels. So far, no federal legislation has passed to set any standards either.This is in part because no one agrees on what those standards should be, says White, who has done research for the Department of Housing and Urban Development on the "mold problem" and ways to treat it. According to White, the regulators trying to come up with those standards are just as perplexed as the rest of the mold industry."Officially, the EPA can't comment and, unofficially, they can't comment either," White says of one of the agencies trying to establish regulations. "I don't envy the EPA on this at all."Because toxic and toxigenic molds affect different people in different ways, safe levels of mold contamination vary, giving the EPA and others statistical headaches when trying to create standards.One of the Fedele's daughters, Lyndi, is asthmatic, making her especially susceptible to spores and mycotoxins released by mold. Lyndi has already been sent to the hospital for reasons that the Fedeles suspect are mold-related, and Carol Fedele discovered that she's allergic to at least five of the mold species found in her home.Although ServPro maintains that their project is completed and that the house should be put back together, the Fedeles had their own testing done on Nov. 4, five days after ServPro said they had finished remediation. Their report concluded that most of their house remains contaminated. , however, says that Priscilla Shea, the industrial hygienist who performed the testing, used faulty methods to reach her results. There is no universally accepted standard for how mold testing should be done."Insurance companies are getting ripped off big time," says Shea,who works for Virginia Environmental Technologies. "I cannot believe it. It reminds me of the age before asbestos was regulated and all kinds of abuses would occur."Because there aren't any regulations to limit what remediators charge, insurance companies have competing cleaning services look at each other's bills to make sure they're not being cheated, says . Still, insurance adjusters are skeptical of cleanup costs that can average around $80,000 for a mid-sized contaminated house that might not cost much more than that on the market.Some insurance companies that ServPro deals with won't even pay for testing to be done to see what kinds of mold are in the house. Likewise, they don't pay for testing to make sure the mold is really gone after the house is treated. Tests to calculate fungal count and identify species cost around $100 for each swab that is used to detect the presence of mold. The Fedeles paid for their own test, which required 134 swabs.Although mold might be a legitimate fear for the small percentage of people with severe reactions to it, the mold problem seems to be blown out of proportion, says White. He argues the majority of mold cases can be cleaned with conventional methods."Contractors and consultants and all of us are a bunch of running dog capitalist pigs," White says. " If there is money to be made and work to be done, we do it. Since I know that so much of the mold problem can be handled by normal people doing normal things, I have to wonder why so many people have [remediators] doing this stuff."The Fedele's case has cost Farmers over $80,000 thus far - about the average cost of mold cleanup for a house their size. However, the contents of the house have not been returned and the floor still isn't repaired.The Fedele's Farmers adjuster initiated an appraisal, meaning the family can't move back into their house, but also stopped paying the Fedele's adjusted living expenses to fund their stay at the resort.For now, the Fedeles must pay for their room out of their own pocket and hope that they soon reach an amenable settlement with their insurance company. If not, the Fedeles are prepared to go to court."I consider ourselves lucky," Carol Fedele says. "If we hadn't had professional testing done, we might have moved back into this house and become sick again."Joe Light can be reached at 247-7863 or by e-mail at jlight@... Copyright © 2003, Daily Press