Family wins mold case

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Family wins mold case

After three years, health problems persist

DetNews.com - Detroit,MI

Olander / The Detroit News

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

AID=/20070117/METRO04/701170351/1015

MARION TOWNSHIP -- A family that bought a nearly $375,000 newly

constructed home on a one-acre lot near Howell lived there for just

10 months before toxic mold forced them out. A poorly built roof

allowed rain to seep into the walls and floors on all three levels

of the home.

Last week -- nearly three years after the ordeal began -- Tom and

Szymczak were awarded a consent judgment of $775,000

against Brighton builder Tonkovich and his company, A & T

Development Inc.

" Of course that's some validation for what my family has been

through, but I still have kids with asthma, and their medical needs

are going to continue, " Tom Szymczak said from his new home in

Indianapolis.

He said his wife, , 35, has had pneumonia four times in the

past three years.

His children were 3 years old and 18 months in May 2003 when they

moved into the four-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath brick home, which now sits

vacant amid a street of estate-size homes in the Black Eagle Valley

subdivision.

The developer agreed to the settlement one day after testimony was

heard in Livingston County's 44th Circuit Court. Tonkovich's

attorney, Holt Jr., declined to comment.

The roof started leaking six days after the family moved in,

Szymczak said. " They didn't do the roof right. What would have been

$200 to $300 in cost cuts caused this whole thing, " he said.

A & T Development hired a contractor to fix the roof, but in February

2004 it began leaking again. During reconstruction, a mold

remediation company identified various types of airborne and surface

mold growing within the walls, including aspergillus, which causes

pulmonary infections and allergies; Stachybotrys, also known as

toxic black mold; and various strains of chaetomium, which can cause

neurological damage.

" We left just before Easter of 2004 to go to a hotel for five days

for the remediation, " Szymczak said.

The five days turned into five months at the Brighton Holiday Inn.

Then, Szymczak, a sales representative for & , was

transferred out of state.

What surprises him the most, though, is that Michigan does not have

laws regulating the cleanup, removal or reporting of toxic mold.

Kobylas, Livingston County building official, said he is

familiar with the Szymczak case, which has generated a file 4 inches

thick.

" I'm not going to elaborate because it involved litigation, " he said.

Kobylas said the county gets " scattered complaints on toxic mold, "

and it investigates.

The Szymczaks still own the home on Black Eagle Ridge and hope to

sell it to an investor from an environmental remediation company.

You can reach Olander at (517) 552 5503 or

volander@....