Attorney rips $1 mold case award

[Guest guest]

Attorney rips $1 mold case award Seeks new trial for Oconee family

August 25, 2007, 12:05 a.m. EST

---->by Galarza ----> (Contact /

Staff Bio)

http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2007/aug/25/attorney-rips-1-mold-case-award/

WALHALLA — An Oconee County jury’s $1 award to a young girl

and her parents for their loss as a result of a mold-related case against the

School District of Oconee County is being used by their attorney as grounds for

a new trial.

Attorney Lawton McIntosh lashed out against the jury’s verdict as “grossly

inadequate” in asking trial judge J.C. Nicholson for a new trial in a legal

brief filed this week on behalf of and Karl Lowrey and their daughter,

.

McIntosh said the $1 award “shocks the conscience,” adding that delivering

such an amount in light of the evidence “was the result of passion, caprice,

prejudice, partiality, corruption or some other improper motive.”

The legal action comes as Judge Cordell Maddox prepares to hear arguments

Tuesday for a new trial in another mold case against the School District.

After a weeklong trial in the Lowrey case, which included testimony from

school officials, teachers, doctors, and some expert witnesses on videotape who

charged about $750 an hour for their time, the jury delivered a split decision

in the case. First, the jury found in favor of the School District with regards

to premises liability, but then turned around and found in favor of the Lowrey

family for their loss of consortium.

Initially, the jury gave the Lowrey family nothing for their loss. However,

Judge Nicholson said they had to come up with a dollar amount and sent them back

to deliberate. They took about half an hour to come back with $1.

The Lowrey family alleged in their lawsuit that became sick while

attending the mold-infested block building at Keowee Elementary School during

the 2003-04 school year.

In asking for a new trial, McIntosh also argued that after finding loss of

consortium, the jury’s $1 award “was inadequate, inconsistent and incomplete.”

Furthermore, the attorney claims that by implication, the jury’s loss of

consortium verdict necessarily concludes that sustained injury as a

result of the School District’s alleged gross negligence.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Judge Maddox will hear a request for a new trial from

both the School District’s attorney and the attorney of a family that sought

damages for their daughter’s mold-related respiratory illnesses.

In that trial held in June, the jury found the School District was grossly

negligent, but decided not to award Jordan or her parents, and

Jeanne , any money.

Attorneys for both sides claim the jury’s decision in June did not make sense.

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[Guest guest]

That is an obscenity. Its like that time last year when the CDC website had

a 'joke' posted on it that made fun of mold illness by saying gelatin molds

of brains caused cognitive dysfunction.

" April Fools " ha ha.. they said..

The judge in that case should immediately be fired and he should lose his

retirement benefits. He is a disgrace to the bench.