Woman sues condo association over alleged toxic mold damage

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Woman sues condo association over alleged toxic mold damage

By KRISTEN ZAMBO, klzambo@...

August 4, 2005

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/bonitanews/article/0,2071,NPDN_14894_3

976433,00.html

Tamara McCreedy says her hair fell out, she coughed up blood and

became sleepless after toxic mold grew in her Bonita Springs condo

complex.

Those health effects and many more are alleged in a civil lawsuit

filed this week by McCreedy in Lee Circuit Court against Pine Haven

Condominium Association Inc.

McCreedy's suit says a fire on Sept. 2, 2002, in the condo directly

below hers caused extensive damage to that unit. Compounding the

fire damage was that done by water used to douse the flames at 28180

Pine Haven Way, unit 43.

" As a result of the fire and water damage, unit No. 43 was locked up

and left in the dilapidated condition for approximately eight

months, " McCreedy's suit said.

Because the condo association locked and didn't clean up the damaged

unit, " an ideal situation for the growth of mold was created, " the

suit said.

" We didn't do it, " Carol Dawe, a member of the Pine Haven

Condominium Association board of directors, said Wednesday. " We

tried as best we can, but that's not our job. That's up to the

people who owned it at the time (to clean it). "

The owners of the damaged unit aren't named as defendants in this

lawsuit.

McCreedy, who Lee County Property Appraiser's Office records show

still owns unit 47, couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment.

Messages were left for her attorneys, C. Bullock and Foye B.

, but they were unavailable for comment.

Dawe said she knows it took awhile to clean the unit, and that toxic

mold can grow in areas where water sits. But it wasn't the condo

association's job to clean up. That's up to the owners, she said.

An inspection conducted Dec. 12, 2002, on the two units showed that

mold and mold spores were in unit 43 and the air handler of

McCreedy's condo, the lawsuit said.

Property records show McCreedy bought the condo in 2002. Its taxable

value that year was $59,000, according to property records. McCreedy

says in her lawsuit that her unit and its contents " drastically

reduced or became worthless as a result of toxic mold infestation. "

The condo in 2003 was listed at a taxable value of $42,000 and in

2004 at $43,270, property records show