Madison, chamber facing lawsuit

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Madison, chamber facing lawsuit

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Huntsville Times - al.com - Huntsville,AL*

By WENDY REEVES Times Staff Writer

wendy.reeves@...

http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/business/1

213780600190290.xml & coll=1

Ex-director, others say building mold made them sick

MADISON - The former director of the Madison Chamber of Commerce and

three former or current employees have sued the chamber and the City

of Madison, claiming that mold in the chamber building caused them

health problems.

The lawsuit was filed electronically Friday night by Huntsville

attorney Dan Allridge on behalf of Sallie Wagner, her daughter

Brittany Wagner, Robin Henegar and Payne.

The lawsuit names the Madison Chamber of Commerce, its board

members, the City of Madison and EnviroSafe LLC - the company hired

to clean up the mold.

The suit comes just days after Sallie Wagner was fired as managing

director of the Madison chamber and Payne resigned. Brittany Wagner

hasn't worked at the chamber since she left for college last fall

but Henegar is still employed by the chamber.

The lawsuit alleges the chamber employees became sick at the

chamber's former Main Street office after being exposed to " high

toxic substances that included unsafe levels of black mold, indoor

air contaminants and toxic substances to include the very dangerous

Tricothecenes Mycotoxins (T-2) " between October 2001 and May/June

2007.

As a result of the exposure, the lawsuit claims, the employees

experienced side effects including respiratory problems, chest pain

and congestion, memory loss, depression, chronic fatigue, sleeping

disorders, mouth problems, mood swings, eye irritation and other

physical and mental abnormalities.

On Tuesday, Chamber President Brett Posey, City Council President

Steve Haraway and EnviroSafe owner Terrell Nixon each said they were

not aware of the lawsuit.

Posey, Haraway and Mayor Sandy Kirkindall said it would be

inappropriate for them to comment on any pending litigation.

Nixon said he didn't know why his company would be named.

" They were already sick before we got there ... and they never came

back (to the Main Street office) after we had cleaned it, " Nixon

said. " Just because the city hired us to do a job doesn't mean they

should sue us. "

The lawsuit requests that the amount of damages be decided by a

jury.