Verdict: $125,000 in mold lawsuit

[Guest guest]

Verdict: $125,000 in mold lawsuit

ton Post Courier - ton,SC*

By Prentiss Findlay (Contact)

The Post and Courier

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/aug/19/verdict_mold_lawsuit51298/

A Berkeley County jury has returned a verdict of $50,000 in actual

damages and $75,000 in punitive damages against Prudential Carolina

Real Estate because an agent allegedly sold residential property

without disclosing that it had a toxic mold problem, plaintiff's

attorney said Monday.

Prudential Carolina attorney Scarafile said post-trial

motions have yet to be heard by trial Judge Young, so the

verdict is not finalized. " This matter is not concluded at the trial

court level, " Scarafile said.

At issue in the trial was whether Prudential Carolina should have

provided two mold reports on the property to the buyers, Scarafile

said. He said an offer was made to remedy the mold problem but it

was rejected.

Dana E. Winters and la C. Winters filed suit against

Prudential Carolina Real Estate and agent Barbara s in

Berkeley County. The verdict was returned last Wednesday,

said. The suit sought $1.5 million in damages. s did not

return a call seeking comment.

The Winters bought property at 2105 Live Oak Drive in Moncks Corner

in 2005 for $110,000. It included a house and a store. The store is

now a bike shop. They intended to renovate the home and offer it for

rent but the Winters discovered it had a black mold problem. The

suit alleged that the defendants knew or should have known about the

mold problem and failed to disclose the information before the sale.

" She (s) knew about the mold problem and she didn't tell us, "

la Winters said. Scarafile said the property was sold under

an " as is " contract with buyer acknowledgement of the presence of

mold in the house.

" They had to abandon the house. They're still paying the mortgage on

it, " said.

la Winters said that a woman who had an earlier contract to

buy the property told them that the house had a problem with toxic

black mold. The woman told the Winters about the mold issue after

they bought the property, la Winters said.

Another Berkeley County court case involving household mold is

pending. A Island family who fled their home after receiving

mold test results has sued builder D.R. Horton Inc., alleging

negligence resulting in permanent and life-threatening physical

injuries. An attorney for and Joy filed the lawsuit

alleging that substandard construction led to water intrusion and

mold that seriously affected their health and that of their 3-year-

old daughter.

The Winters' lawsuit does not allege detrimental health effects

because of an undisclosed mold problem at the house on the property

they purchased.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@....

[Guest guest]

This award is WAY too small as they are sick.

Even if you ignore that which would be crazy because

the impact on somebody's life is huge, they are still out a huge

amount of money because the lawyer takes at least a third.

The award should take that and the difficulty of bringing these

lawsuits in the face of an official cover-up into stock. I guess what I

am trying to say is that public health demands that these things stop

and the law needs to do whatever t takes to stop them, part of

which I think should be punishing clear violations of the fiduciary

duty of sellers. This kind of thing goes on all the time and when

it happens, the ugly reality is that the mold reports often do not get shown

to prospective buyers so they can make an informed decision and

hire their own inspectors to do a THOROUGH inspection of the house.

Its really important. That company should have provided the mold reports to the

buyer before purchase. That is part of their responsibility as a FIDUCIARY.

There is NO excuse for not doing so.

Now they are quite possibly hypersensitized to mold.

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 7:30 AM, tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

> Verdict: $125,000 in mold lawsuit

> ton Post Courier - ton,SC*

> By Prentiss Findlay (Contact)

> The Post and Courier

> Tuesday, August 19, 2008

>

> http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/aug/19/verdict_mold_lawsuit51298/

>