Mold could be a killer

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http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/7925327p-8801559c.html

Mold could be a killerBy Barbara The Fresno Bee(Published Sunday, December 21, 2003, 5:40 AM)

The day Seniff found out that a black mold inside her Visalia rental home might have killed her 16-month-old son was the day she left. When Rob Seniff got home from his job at a cheese processing plant that day two years ago, the Seniffs fled the house, leaving everything -- furniture, linens, pots and pans and two dogs in the back yard. A neighbor agreed to feed and water the pets until the Seniffs found another home. They wouldn't go back to retrieve a few belongings until last month, after a wrongful-death and personal-injury lawsuit had been settled for $2.35 million. The Seniffs claimed water leaks in the home allowed mold to grow, exposing their son, Brice, to toxins that caused bleeding in his lungs that led to his death. Molds make noses run. They can trigger hay fever and asthma attacks. For years, doctors have known that farmers working around moldy hay or grain have developed inflammation of their lungs. But killer mold? Whether the kind of mold that spread through the Seniffs' home is capable of making people gravely ill and whether it caused the bleeding in Brice's lungs that killed him remain questions for scientists to answer. But while health threats from mold remain cloudy, its impacts on insurance companies, builders and consumers are clear. Entire law firms specialize in mold litigation. Insurance companies are altering policies to exclude mold damage claims because they are paying out so much; and an industry of people who inspect and clean moldy homes is flourishing. It's hard to calculate exactly how many mold lawsuits are winding their way through the court system nationwide, but one estimate pegs the total at about 10,000 cases in the past decade. Media reports of people living in moldy homes who claim mold caused brain damage, bleeding lungs and cancer only serve to frighten the public, says the National Association of Home Builders. But lawyers and advocates for homeowners and tenants say people are filing more lawsuits because they're more educated about the potential health risks from mold exposure. New-home construction also gets some of the blame. Double-pane windows and layers of insulation that reduce energy costs also hold in heat and moisture and create a cozy environment for mold to grow. Newer building materials -- cellulose insulation and plasterboard -- suck up water and take time to dry. And homes are built quickly today, which can lead to roofs that leak, windows that don't fit properly and plumbing that falls apart. Mold claims continue to grow because more defective homes are being built, says Sandy Skipper- of Madera, the director of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, a national nonprofit consumer protection organization. "If the builders want the lawyers to go away," says Skipper-, "build it right the first time." Jaffe, staff vice president for construction liability for the National Association of Home Builders, says there is no evidence that the way homes are being built today and the materials being used contribute to mold claims. And lawyers for builders, subcontractors and landlords say modern construction isn't at fault. They refer to a "mold is gold" phenomenon. Publicity about high-profile, multimillion-dollar mold settlements is an incentive for people to sue, they say. Three mold cases cited most often: A $7.2 million settlement of a mold lawsuit filed by entertainer Ed McMahon. A settlement with the builder in a lawsuit brought by paralegal and environmental activist Brockovich. A $32 million settlement, later reduced to $4 million and now on appeal, in a lawsuit filed by a Texas homeowner. "There's a segment of the trial bar that has seized on this issue and is bringing a lot of litigation," Jaffe says. "Five years ago, we didn't have mold litigation. We didn't have law firms that specialized in mold litigation." The central San Joaquin Valley has contributed its share of mold cases. Tulare County courthouse workers have sued. So have homeowners in subdivisions and tenants in a Clovis apartment complex. The Seniffs joined the flood of mold litigants in 2002, about a year after Brice's death in February 2001. They sued the owner of the Visalia home they were renting, the rental management company and two roofers who had worked on the leaky roof. Seniff says she complained over the course of eight years about a musty odor coming from the carpet, discoloration on the ceiling, water leaks and a soggy bathroom subfloor. She says the complaints were ignored or repairs were inadequately done, resulting in water leaks and mold growth. The roofers, rental company and homeowner agreed to pay the Seniffs a $2.35 million settlement in October. Court documents show Dodson Bros. Roofing of Visalia, which installed a roof, settled with the Seniffs for $1 million; homeowner Ann Mehrten for $800,000; Kaweah Rental Management, $500,000; and Visalia Roofing, which did a minor roof repair, $50,000. Lawyers for Mehrten and the rental agency say Brice's death was tragic, but there is no proof that mold caused it. They say they responded when the Seniffs complained about the house. An attorney for Dodson Bros. Roofing says a confidential agreement prevents her from talking about the settlement, but court documents show Dodson maintains it was not contacted about any problems after the roof was installed in 1996. A lawyer for Visalia Roofing says that company never received any complaints after it repaired the Seniffs' roof in 1999. A personal-injury mold case is never a "slam-dunk," says Doug Grinnell, a California lawyer who specializes in construction-defect litigation. Grinnell represents about 650 homeowners in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties in mold, moisture and insect-intrusion lawsuits against Centex Homes. Grinnell says Centex paid to repair more than 100 homes in Woodland Park, Lisendra Heights and Sunrise Pointe communities in Visalia and in Heritage Park in Tulare. Repairs are expected to start in late 2004 on homes in Fresno's Peachtree subdivision. Mold cases are expensive to file, requiring an array of paid experts in medicine, industrial hygiene and construction on both sides of the court aisle. Grinnell says he often guides homeowners away from seeking health claims because they are costly and unlikely to succeed. Instead, he advises them to focus on compensation for repairs to their homes. Centex homeowners and Bradlee Weatherford say they wanted their three-bedroom Heritage Park home in Tulare "fixed to make our kids better. It wasn't a matter of money or getting anything out of it." The Weatherfords' two daughters, Kelsee, now 8, and e, 4, had sinus infections and asthma attacks from mold, Weatherford, 30, says. The Weatherfords were first-time home buyers. Bradlee, 31, is a Land O' Lakes truck driver. is a kindergarten teacher's aide at Oak Valley School in Tulare. Shortly after the family moved into the home in 1995, Weatherford says, she noticed a black mold in the windowsills but was told by a Centex representative to just leave the windows cracked and that would take care of the problem. She didn't feel safe leaving the windows open, she says. And the mold grew. The Weatherfords joined the homeowners' lawsuit against Centex. In September 2002, the home's aluminum window frames were replaced with vinyl ones. The stucco exterior, which included a layer of foam between two coats of stucco, was removed, and a new stucco finish was applied. The girls' health improved, says. Centex has agreed to replace the carpet and linoleum after Christmas because mold spots have been found on them, she says. Says Hatch, Central Valley division manager for Centex: "Our philosophy has always been if the house wasn't performing properly that we would be willing to go in and fix it." Centex has made several changes in its home construction since 1995, Hatch says. For example, the company has altered the way it grades a lot to improve water drainage away from a home. Vinyl windows are now the standard, and three coats of stucco are applied to the outside of houses. "In the industry, we're always evolving to new and improved techniques on how to build a home," Hatch says. Hatch says a state law enacted this year will help homeowners and builders avoid litigation. The law lists building code standards for home construction and gives builders time to make repairs before homeowners can file construction-defect lawsuits. Homeowner advocates say it's too soon to tell the effect of the law on new home buyers. Insurers say mold damage claims have poured into their offices in the past three years. Last year alone, insurers paid $3 billion nationwide in mold claims -- more than double the total paid the previous year, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based trade association. California is second in the nation behind Texas in mold lawsuits and payouts, says Pete Moraga, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network, an organization supported by the property casualty insurance industry. The Insurance Information Network of California says water damage claims continue to rise, increasing from $224 million in 1997 to $562 million in 2002. Water claims represented 33% of all claims filed in California in 2002 and 33% of the total amount paid out, Moraga says. A mold claim isn't going to exist without a water claim, Moraga explains. People have always filed insurance claims when a dishwasher floods the floor or a hose on a washing machine cracks, sending sudsy water across a room. But mold damage has increased the cost of water claims. In 1997, the average water claim was $2,537, Moraga says. But in 2002, the average cost had risen to $4,925. A water claim can cost $30,000 if mold is found and has to be cleaned up, he says. The costs are so high because insurers are practicing defensive claims adjusting, says Hartwig, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute. Afraid of being sued, insurers call in certified industrial hygienists to evaluate mold damage and pay for homeowners to live in hotels while their homes are repaired. "All of this gets to be very, very expensive," Hartwig says. Most insurance policies now exclude mold damage altogether or put monetary caps on the amounts they will cover. For instance, since December 2002, State Farm Insurance has limited mold damage to $5,000 for a home and $10,000 for commercial property. Mold claims are paid only if they were caused by a "covered loss," such as a burst water pipe. Home builders say consumers suffer the costs of mold litigation in other ways. Don Sharp, president of the Building Industry Association of Tulare/Kings counties and owner of Sharp Insurance and Bonding in Visalia, says home buyers pay higher prices because of mold claims. Sharp says insurers are charging roofers, plumbers, window installers and other subcontractors more in liability insurance premiums because subcontractors are as likely as the builders to become defendants in defective-construction mold lawsuits. Subcontractors pass along their increased insurance costs to builders, Sharp says. Builders respond by raising the price on a new home. Mold lawsuits are a byproduct of modern times, but mold is not a new problem. People have been co-existing with mold since they lived in caves and slept on straw mats on damp ground. There are between 50,000 and 250,000 species of mold that flourish anywhere they can find water and a food source. Inside a house, they feed on wood, paper and drywall. Even dust can be a meal for molds. They spread rapidly by reproducing microscopic spores that float in the air, land on a moist spot and multiply. Not all molds are harmful. Penicillin, derived from a mold, has saved hundreds of thousands of lives since its discovery in 1928. Only a fraction of the more than 1,000 types of molds found in homes release mycotoxins, or poisons, that are known to cause allergic reactions. But it's whether these toxic molds cause adverse health effects, such as bleeding in the lungs, memory loss and fatigue, that scientists are trying to determine. And, they don't know whether mold-related illnesses are increasing. "There's a lot we need to know," says Dr. Redd, chief of the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Program at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is funding an Institute of Medicine study to evaluate the relationship between indoor mold and sickness. The study will include a review of the scientific literature on mold. But Redd says these mold investigators face special challenges. No one knows how much exposure to toxic molds is too much. Unlike other toxins, such as radon, there are no federal safety standards for acceptable concentrations of indoor molds. California passed the Toxic Mold Protection Act of 2001 to define safe mold limits and the health threat posed by indoor molds. Two years later, the law remains stalled, waiting for the state to allocate the $518,000 that is needed to begin the research. But homeowners want someone they can call when they notice a black, slippery smudge on a bathroom baseboard or windowsill. And they're willing to pay to find out whether the mold is dangerous. Mold inspectors who will test a home for toxic spores can be found in almost any community. "There's a whole cottage industry set up around this mold issue -- people calling themselves 'mold inspectors,' " says Tennant, a certified industrial hygienist and professor of industrial hygiene and environmental health at California State University, Fresno. Tennant says mold inspectors are not required to complete the same level of training as is required of a certified industrial hygienist. Tennant has an industrial hygiene consulting company and often gets called to test for mold in homes that are the subject of litigation. Testing a home for mold isn't cheap. Mold sampling can run $125 an hour. When Tennant started San Joaquin Environmental in 1987, mold cases were a small part of his business. Today, they're about 55% of his work. Larry Parfitt cleans moldy homes. Mold remediation is about 20% of the business at APC Contractors Inc., his Fresno firm. Five years ago, "it was virtually none," he says. Parfitt started in the cleanup business 20 years ago. "I don't think anybody knew the health hazards [of mold] like they know now," Parfitt says. "So they didn't do anything about it. Now, of course, when they see mold, they want to get it cleaned up." Getting rid of mold is similar to asbestos removal, Parfitt says. His workers wear protective clothing and respirators while they tear out walls and floors that are covered with fuzzy, black mold. Filtration machines scrub the air to keep spores from escaping throughout a house. The workers follow a cleanup plan prepared by a certified industrial hygienist. The cost depends, Parfitt says, but a homeowner can expect to pay at least a couple of thousand dollars and up to $5,000 or $6,000. The toxic mold that raises the most health concerns, brings the most lawsuits and gets the most attention is Stachybotrys chartarum, a greenish-black slime that thrives in wet conditions inside homes. Stachybotrys is the mold the Seniffs believe killed Brice. It's the mold that was found in the Centex homes. And the black mold is at the center of a lawsuit Fresno lawyer Warren R. Paboojian has filed on behalf of 89 tenants who lived in the former Palisades Apartments on Fowler Avenue in Clovis. The tenants claim exposure to the toxic mold caused fatigue and respiratory and neurological problems. The tenants have moved out and the apartment complex has since been sold. The new owner, Romano, says the apartments -- renamed Sierra Hills -- have been renovated and mold no longer is an issue. Paboojian is suing the former owners for fraud, emotional distress, attorney's fees, costs of moving and pain and suffering. He says the former owners knew there were mold problems but failed to fix them correctly and didn't inform tenants about the existence of the mold. G. Woods is a Fresno lawyer who represents the property management company, which is owned by two of the Palisades' owners. Says Woods: "We certainly deny those allegations that we were aware of any dangerous conditions or that we knowingly exposed any tenants to a dangerous condition." and Greg King of Clovis moved into the apartments in April 2001. The Kings needed a place to live while their new home was being built in the foothills outside Clovis. In November 2001, the Kings moved from an upstairs Palisades apartment into a downstairs unit. A ground-level apartment was more practical with a 3-year-old son and a newborn, King says. But soon after they moved downstairs, the baby developed ear and sinus infections, a runny nose and watery eyes that wouldn't clear up, she says. She found mold growing on a window in February 2002. She says doctors told her it was mold that had been making her son sick. Palisades paid for the family to stay in a hotel while the apartment was cleaned, King says. But the mold problems persisted. An air quality test was done in May 2002, she says, and the family spent another week in the hotel. They returned to the apartment only to pack and dispose of most of their furniture before moving into their new home. "We had a board between the mattress and the box spring to stiffen the mattress. That board was actually growing mold. That's how bad it was," King says. Stachybotrys has driven workers in the Tulare County courthouse to move from one court to another. The black mold has dogged the courthouse in Visalia since a softball-size piece of it was found in Superior Court Judge beth Krant's office in April 1999. Krant sued the county, claiming she began having health problems in November 1998. The judge said she suffered from hair loss, dizziness, vertigo, watery and itchy eyes, stomach pain, breathing problems, ringing in her ears, a swollen face and rashes. Her lawsuit alleged the courthouse was built defectively and the county concealed information about the Stachybotrys mold. The county denies hiding anything from workers and maintains the courthouse is a safe place to work. The presence of mold itself doesn't mean it's hazardous, says Woods, who represented the county in the mold litigation. "There's never been a condition that posed a health risk to the employees or the users of the courthouse," he says. Last month, Krant settled with the county for $40,000. But the county claimed no responsibility. Woods says the decision to settle was a business one. Krant has settled for $277,500 with 10 contractors who built the courthouse addition where mold was found, and now she works in the Pixley court. Stachybotrys gained notoriety in 1993, when babies in Cleveland were discovered to be suffering from severe bleeding in the lungs. It was reported the babies all lived in homes found to be contaminated with the mold. But since then, the scientific community has been split on a cause-and- effect relationship between mold and infant pulmonary hemorrhage. The CDC initially agreed with independent investigators in Cleveland that exposure to mold in the homes might have caused bleeding in babies' lungs. But the CDC in a 2000 report says there were shortcomings in the initial study and the investigations didn't prove an association. The Seniffs believe Stachybotrys was the mold that caused Brice's death on Feb. 16, 2001. Rob Seniff was the one who found Brice. Seniff's graveyard shift at Saputo Cheese USA Inc. in Tulare was over, and he had stretched out on his bed for a quick morning nap before he had to get stepsons Jimmy Stokes, 12, and Stokes, 10, ready for school. Seniff had left at 6 a.m. for her job in the cost-containment department at Cigna Healthcare in Visalia. Rob Seniff woke Jimmy and and went to check on Brice and his twin sister, . He went to Brice's crib first. His son was facedown. "Blood was around him. It was dried up. I felt his back, and it felt stiff," Rob Seniff says. The Seniffs say they weren't aware the musty odor of the carpet was from mold or that brown stains on the ceiling in the den, where Brice napped during the day, and a similar stain in the nursery where he slept at night, harbored colonies of Stachybotrys. Two other toxic molds -- Aspergillus and Penicillium -- were found inside the home, says Jeff Taber, a Kings County environmental health officer the Seniffs hired to inspect the house for mold. When Brice died, didn't believe the cause of death listed on the death certificate by the Tulare County Coroner's Office: respiratory arrest, due to pulmonary dysplasia, a condition caused by prematurity of the lungs. Brice was full term, she says. But he was tiny at birth, weighing 4 pounds, 8 ounces. His twin sister, , weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces. Brice stayed in the hospital for two weeks in an incubator with a feeding tube in his stomach. But Seniff says he was healthy when he came home, and he quickly outgrew his sister. had respiratory problems and constant colds. When her brother died, her parents worried the twins might have a congenital problem. They took to Visalia pediatrician Hall in November 2001. Hall sent for Brice's autopsy report. She asked a pediatric pathologist for his opinion. His report suggested bleeding in the lungs. Hall says in a written statement that she looked up possible causes for the bleeding. One of the suspected causes was mold. She advised the family to leave the home "pending testing of the home for mold ... ." Mick Marderosian, a Fresno lawyer hired by the Seniffs, says evidence existed to link Brice's death to mold in the Visalia home. Marderosian says a new testing technique, using DNA probes, found mold in Brice's lung tissue and toxins produced by the mold. The mold in the tissue sample matched Stachybotrys chartarum. Proof enough, Marderosian says, to make a case that exposure to mold could have caused bleeding in Brice's lungs and his death. "This case was unique because it had the element of tangible evidence," Marderosian says. Others disagree. "I feel terrible for the Seniffs, but I don't believe it had anything to do with mold," says S. Levitt, the Westlake Village lawyer who represented Visalia Roofing in the lawsuit. And attorneys question the scientific methods used to identify mold in Brice's lung tissue. No such test has been scientifically validated or approved by the federal government, they say. The Seniffs have moved to Northern California. The air is healthier there for and for , who continues to have respiratory problems. Jimmy lives in Clovis with his father. The Seniffs had been renting a house from a relative in Tulare, borrowing furniture from friends and family. Seniff says 's lungs became less congested after the family moved out of the rental house in Visalia. When she and Rob returned to the Visalia rental last month, she didn't bring , Jimmy or . She wore a protective suit, mask and gloves while inside the house. She saved the dress wore to Brice's funeral, family photos, Brice's baby blanket and the tiny hats she dressed him in, all put away until they could be professionally rid of mold spores. Beds, chairs, dishes, books, computers and toys went into a Dumpster in the driveway, to be hauled to a county dump. Before she closed the door and turned her back to the house, Seniff sat in the babies' nursery by herself. She cried and she screamed. "I was so mad at the house," she says. "It took Brice's life." The reporter can be reached at banderson@... or 441-6310.