Toxic mold taints housing site

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Posted on Sun, Dec. 10, 2006

Toxic mold taints housing site

Marine sues the Parks at Monterey Bay, Pinnacle Realty Co. over

contaminated residences

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY

The Monterey County Herald

Herald Salinas Bureau

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/16208080.htm?

source=rss & channel=montereyherald_news

After serving tours in Kosovo and Iraq, flying a helicopter into

combat to rescue wounded troops, the last thing Marine Maj.

Sr. thought he would have to worry about was how military

housing would affect his family's health while he was assigned to

the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

, who is facing a scheduled return to Iraq, will leave behind

two children who must receive daily treatments for asthma brought on

by exposure to toxic black mold in their house at La Mesa Village,

according to a lawsuit filed against the Parks at Monterey Bay,

which includes La Mesa Village, and the military's property manager,

Pinnacle Realty Co. of Seattle.

, 32, is stationed in Virginia. He and his wife, Jody ,

will return to the Monterey Peninsula for a June trial, in which

they are expected to testify about indifference and disrespect they

say they experienced at the hands of the companies after Jodi

discovered black mold growing on a wall behind an armoire in their

bedroom in January 2005.

According to , he and his family were forced to move

twice after air samples showed " extremely elevated " levels of toxic

mold in their Revere Road home, even after workers tried to solve

the problem by bleaching the wall.

One air sampling showed 31,900 penicillium/aspergillus spores per

cubic meter in the master bedroom of the house, and 27,800 spores

per cubic meter in the children's bedroom. Both readings are well

above the outdoor count of 213 spores.

According to a report by Aero-Environmental Consulting, which

conducted the testing, the typical source of indoor spores is the

outdoor environment and indoor counts are usually lower.

" Based on the extremely elevated mold spore concentrations inside

the residence, " the report reads, " Aero-Environmental recommends for

the occupants to relocate until all mold spore levels are within

normal parameters. "

Substantial scientific research, including a 2004 study by the

National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, has linked mold

and damp conditions to health effects such as asthma and other

respiratory conditions.

's attorney, Warner of Monterey, said both of 's

children now receive three respiratory treatments a day to deal with

the effects of the mold. The block of buildings that included the

s' Revere Street home has now been demolished, he said.

Discovery of mold|

Kurt son, a spokesman for Pinnacle, said all non-historical

homes in La Mesa Village and Fort Ord are slated to be demolished by

2013 so that modern homes can be built. He said he was unable to

discuss the lawsuit because he was not familiar with its details and

because of the company's policy not to discuss residents.

The company's attorney, Schnack of Sacramento, did not return

repeated phone calls this week.

According to the lawsuit, Jody discovered black mold on Jan. 24,

2005. immediately reported the problem to Pinnacle management

at the Parks at Monterey Bay, the suit states. Three days later, the

company sent a crew to investigate.

Workers cleaned the mold with bleach and cut a hole in the wall to

check for moisture. According to a letter written by ,

they declared the wall moisture free, but offered no explanation as

to why it was " 'sweating,' damp to the touch and growing mold. "

Subsequent inspection by Aero-Environmental found elevated moisture

levels in the wall and recommended part of the wall, as well as all

carpet in the house, be removed.

Son starts coughing|

Within hours of the initial crew cutting into the wall, wrote,

his 3-year-old son was coughing and vomiting uncontrollably.

After two trips to the emergency room at Community Hospital of the

Monterey Peninsula during that weekend, Jr. was seen by

his pediatrician, who said the likely cause of his illness was mold

exposure, claims. The doctor wrote a letter saying the boy

needed to be removed from the mold-infested house.

When went to the Parks at Monterey Bay to request housing

relocation, he alleges, the manager told him, " If your son has a

problem with mold, then you need to see your lieutenant colonel and

get orders off the Monterey Peninsula. "

, a Naval Academy graduate, was assigned to the Naval

Postgraduate School to obtain a master's degree in management after

a tour of duty in Iraq.

said his wife contacted an Army official who instructed

Pinnacle to move the family.

The family was moved into a new home, but Pinnacle sent their

furniture with them. When air samplings showed alarming results at

the Revere Road home, the s were notified that their furniture

would have to be " remediated " and they were moved into the Navy

Lodge. After two weeks, they were moved into a mold-free house.

Eventually, the s claim, $30,000 worth of personal property was

destroyed or kept by Pinnacle and the Parks at Monterey Bay because

it couldn't be sufficiently cleaned.

says a pediatric pulmonologist at Lucile Packard Children's

Hospital at Stanford diagnosed both of his children with asthma

attributed to mold exposure. The children require daily treatments.

When they catch a cold, it takes three to four weeks, rather than

three to four days, before they get well.

Claims of negligent housing|

Among other things, the family's lawsuit alleges Pinnacle

negligently maintained its housing. It asks for general and punitive

damages for personal injury, infliction of emotional distress,

conversion of personal property and for failing to provide safe

housing or disclose to the s the condition of the property.

Warner said is pursuing the lawsuit because he wants to

protect others in the military and to press for better management

from the firms contracted as part of the 1996 Military Housing

Privatization Act.

" In all the times he's been here, " Warner said, " he's never

asked 'What will I get out of this?' "

For his part, Warner said, he is motivated by a sense of fairness to

the country's military personnel.

" No matter how you feel about the war in Iraq, if we're going to

send these young men and women overseas to fight and risk death,

when they come back here with their families neither they nor

families should be at risk in military housing, " he said. " They're

getting it from both ways. "

Ann , chief of public affairs for the Presidio of Monterey,

said local military officials were unaware of the lawsuit and do not

comment on pending litigation.

More lawsuits|

Pinnacle has taken over operations of more than 15,000 military

housing units in the United States as part of the Army's Residential

Communities Initiative, according to its Web site. Pinnacle, one the

world's largest property management firms, manages 132,000 multi-

family units, including 30,000 public-housing units, in the United

States.

It has been the focus of several high-profile lawsuits.

In one, a St. Louis jury awarded $18 million to a woman whose 4-year-

old son fell to his death from the window of their 11th story

apartment. According to testimony, the mother had repeatedly asked

Pinnacle managers to put window guards on the apartment to avert

such a disaster.

In another, Pinnacle settled a wrongful death lawsuit by the family

of an Arkansas man who died of rabies contracted from bats in his

apartment building. Before doctors learned the cause of the man's

death, they donated his organs to four other people, three of whom

died of rabies.

In his letter, said property management firms such as Pinnacle

that have taken over military housing are concerned with " the bottom

line: money, " not the comfort and health of its occupants.

" The Parks at Monterey Bay has treated us with little to no respect

and absolutely no concern for our well-being, " he wrote.

herald.com.

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Virginia Hennessey can be reached at 753-6751 or vhennessey@monterey