DIA mold suit dismissed

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DIA mold suit dismissed

Denver Post - Denver,CO

By Pankratz

Denver Post Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 06/25/2007 03:40:23 PM MDT

http://test.denverpost.com/news/ci_6225646

The roof of the main terminal building at Denver International

Airport, photographed in 2005. (Jerry Cleveland | The Denver Post)A

class-action lawsuit that alleges travelers and employees at Denver

International Airport were exposed to extensive mold and fungi

contamination was dismissed today by the Colorado Supreme Court.

The high court said the women who brought the lawsuit failed to file

their notice of a claim with Denver within the 180-day time limit

required under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act.

Also, the justices said the women didn't identify any injuries

suffered during the 180-day period.

The action was filed by two United Airlines employees, Terri

Crandall and Joann Hubbard, who claimed they experienced pneumonia,

headaches, nausea, shortness of breath and bronchitis beginning in

1995. By 1999, Crandall and Hubbard each believed their illnesses

were being caused by environmental contamination at the airport.

Fognani, the lawyer representing Crandall and Hubbard, said he

and his clients " were extremely disappointed " with the decision and

would have to review the opinion and decide what course to pursue.

" I read that Denver plans to spend $6.2 million to renovate DIA

bathrooms but won't spend one-sixth of that to determine what needs

to be done to protect DIA workers. That is a travesty, " Fognani

said. " They need to do a full-blown environmental investigation and

then undertake a responsive cleanup. "

Doering, an assistant Denver city attorney, said the city was

pleased with the decision and that Denver has not found

any " systemic " problems at the airport. He said that there are

occasional problems, such as odor complaints, and those are

investigated and remedied immediately. He also said some remedial

work was done on some abandoned training rooms in the basement of

Concourse B in early 2006, where there may have been some water

seepage.

" We don't feel there is an ongoing, systemic environmental problem, "

Doering said.

Crandall and Hubbard, who were employed at DIA as customer-service

representatives, claimed that during the periods they were being

treated for their medical conditions and were away from Concourse B,

their symptoms disappeared. But their symptoms returned when they

went back to work on Concourse B, they said.

Crandall has continued her employment at DIA, but Hubbard left in

February 2002. Both worked primarily at the boarding gates in

Concourse B of DIA and also in the " Red Carpet Club " rooms of

Concourse B.

Hubbard stopped working after she suffered what she called " a final

blowout, " in which she had a skin outbreak so severe that she had to

leave work and seek medical attention, according to court documents.

Staff writer Pankratz can be reached at

hpankratz@....