Family wins suit over mold in home

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October 31, 2005

Hendricks County

Family wins suit over mold in home

Indianapolis Star

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20051031/NEWS01/510310364

Star report

A Plainfield family has won a lawsuit claiming the seller of its

house failed to disclose a mold problem.

A Hendricks Superior Court jury last week awarded $350,000 to

and Ronda Colee. The award was more than the $327,000 they sought

for costs of gutting and rebuilding the house, attorney fees and

emotional distress.

Attorney Harrington, who represented the Colees, filed a

claim for the money Friday from the estate of Carl L. Salesman, who

sold the house on South Carr Road to the Colees in August 2001.

Salesman, who owned a Stilesville farm implement auction company,

died in 2004.

In the suit, Salesman was accused of fraud and deception by signing

a real estate seller's disclosure form declaring the house was free

of mold or any other problems or hazards. The Colees relied upon

that statement, which state law requires of the sellers of all real

estate.

" The implication for all sellers is to be honest. This form is a

statement about the condition of the home and it is under oath. The

courts have found that a seller who makes false statements is liable

to a buyer who is damaged, " Harrington said.

Attorney , representing the Salesman estate, couldn't be

reached Friday for comment. According to testimony in the two-day

trial, two previous owners of the 1,400-square-foot Plainfield ranch

home had experienced problems with water leaking into the basement

and mold growing on upstairs walls during the 1980s and 1990s.

However, Salesman's widow, Salesman, testified that she never

saw any mold in the house.

Colee family members said they began to see mold growing on the

walls within months after they bought the house in August 2001.

Their children began to get sick by December of that year and were

later found to have mold in their lungs.

The family separated to live with relatives while they struggled

financially and emotionally to repair the house over a three-year

period, according to testimony. The work finally was done in 2004

with loans and a federal grant.

The Colees are employees of the Indiana Department of Correction.

They now are reunited in the house with no further signs of mold.