Mold turns one dream home into nightmare

[Guest guest]

Mold turns one dream home into nightmare

By DeFour

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/city/a02mold.htm

STAFF WRITER

OSWEGO — Jeff and Tina Werderman thought they had found the perfect

house.

The ranch home at 27 Boat Lane was rated a " 10++++ " on the multiple

listing services. It featured a spacious, fenced-in back yard, a

repainted, unfinished basement, brand new carpeting and the price

was right: $208,900, which they even haggled down to $200,900.

But the day they moved in, March 17, 2003, Tina Werderman said she

felt a spell of dizziness after dinner. The next morning she had

developed flu-like symptoms: stuffy nose, earache, upset stomach and

diarrhea. She thought nothing of it, however, and went to teach

social studies at Oswego High School.

The following day, daughter Kasey, who has asthma and severe

allergies, was wheezing with swollen glands. Eventually Jeff and

their other daughter Kallie came down with the same bug.

When new neighbors and Joy Lawrence visited that weekend, they

commented on how refreshing it was to be able to stand in the

kitchen for more than a few minutes.

Beg pardon?

" Did you know this house was filled with mold, so much that there

were mushrooms growing on the basement ceiling? " Tina recalled Joy

telling her. " I saw four feet of water in the house. "

The Lawrences showed the Werdermans the black spots that were re-

forming on the ceiling rafters in the basement. When they pulled

back the dishwasher in the kitchen, they saw the wall was caked in a

black-and-green fuzzy substance.

" We just stared at each other, and we couldn't even talk, " Tina

Werderman said.

The house was uninhabitable.

Jury awards damages

On May 12, 2003, the Werdermans filed a lawsuit in DuPage Circuit

Court against Liberty Ventures LLC, Hometeam Inspection Services of

Yorkville, Naperville Professionals Inc. d/b/a RE/MAX Professionals

Select, and five individuals associated with those companies.

They filed 12 claims against some or all of the defendants,

including breach of contract, fraud, civil conspiracy, breach of

fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation and negligence.

They also filed statutory claims that RE/MAX Professionals Select

and Liberty Ventures violated the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive

Business Practices Act, and that Liberty Ventures violated the

Residential Real Property Disclosure Act.

Last month, a DuPage County jury returned a verdict awarding the

Werdermans about $140,000 from the three companies, but not the

individuals, named in the lawsuit.

RE/MAX Professionals Select was to pay $62,160 in compensatory

damages, Liberty Ventures was to pay $9,100 and Hometown Inspection

Services was to pay $285, according to the jury's decision.

Additionally, the verdict rewarded punitive damages against RE/MAX

Professionals Select in the amount of $69,175.

However, Judge Bonnie Wheaton found in favor of the defendants on

the statutory claims. Under Illinois law, those claims were the only

ones that could result in the defendants paying the fees for the

Werdermans' lawyers and litigation costs.

And today, Wheaton is expected to hear a motion to overturn the

punitive damages.

" We are obviously sympathetic to the nature of their claims, but we

had no knowledge, " said Heist, attorney for RE/MAX

Professionals Select.

The house of mold

According to neighbor Lawrence, the house had been vacant for

months after a foreclosure in September 2000.

As a result, the water, electricity and heating were turned off. By

the summer of 2001, neighbors began to complain about the overgrown

lawn, an increase in local vermin and a festering stench coming from

the house.

In August 2001, the Lawrences observed the standing water through a

broken basement window. Lawrence said the house had a sump pump that

kept the basement dry during the spring and summer — but with the

electricity turned off, the basement flooded.

The Department of Veterans Affairs acquired the building on Nov. 16,

2001, and later auctioned it at a listed price of $147,100 in April

2002.

According to the Werdermans, the VA coded the property as " WD " for

water damage, but Heist said this information was not available to

the public when his clients purchased the house.

" It's unfortunate that the VA didn't disclose any of the substantial

information they had, " Heist said.

Another real estate agent, Barbie Poppen, said in a deposition for

the trial that she toured the house with prospective buyers in April

2002. She described seeing mold on the walls in almost every room in

the house and said the basement smelled like Limburger cheese.

She was so concerned, she even warned a young couple not to bring

their baby into the house.

Property transactions

, a defendant and member of the RE/MAX group,

purchased the property in June 2002 for about $150,000 after tax

breaks and a $5,000 commission, which was paid to Walter Chase,

another defendant and the RE/MAX agent listed in the transaction.

That same day, the property was resold to Liberty Ventures LLC for

about $161,000.

Liberty Ventures contracted Mike Vacko of Masterpiece Painting to

paint the exterior and interior, fix any odds-and-ends and clean the

basement.

In July 2002, Masterpiece Painting completed the work, including a

bleaching of the baseboards in the basement. Vacko testified that

the house smelled like dog urine, but that he saw no signs of mold

damage in the house.

Liberty Ventures' attorney Harrington said the company spent

about $10,000 on the repair work, and paid other bills on the house

until selling it to the Werdermans. In the end, they only made about

$2,000 on the property, he said.

The Werdermans viewed the home in January 2003. They hired Hometeam

Inspection Service in Oswego to conduct a routine inspection of the

house.

After realizing their predicament in March, the Werdermans

immediately notified Liberty Ventures about the mold.

They contacted several companies to find out the extent of their

problem, including Midwest Environmental Consulting Services, which

found mold in every room on the property in April 2003.

Albert, the representative from Midwest Environmental, later

testified in a sworn affidavit that " the 27 Boat Lane home ranks in

the worst five percent of homes I have inspected for the presence of

mold during my career. "

The Werdermans received mold remediation quotes. One estimate came

in at $16,800 for just the basement and two kitchen walls. Another

company estimated $11,000, but with an extra $7,000 to $8,000 for

fungicide.

Costs mount up

The Werdermans' litigation costs and lawyers fees already exceed the

$140,000 jury award. In fact, they exceed the original listed price

for the house at 27 Boat Lane.

In the end, the Werdermans were able to negotiate a deal with their

mortgage company, but they lost the $33,900 down payment, an

additional $18,000 and the deed to the house.

In August 2003, they finally moved to Richfield, Wis., northwest of

Milwaukee.

Their daughter Kasey suffered from pneumonia for six months, though

she eventually recovered. The Werdermans never filed any personal

injury claims because they were told that a scientific link between

their health problems and mold still does not exist.

Today they wonder how things would be different if they met the

Lawrences back in January 2003, rather than the old man who hadn't

lived on the street very long and simply told them it was a " nice

quiet neighborhood. "

8/2/05