Washington Post~Sunday 2/1~Mold Injured Family~Virgina~$4.75M Verdict

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_http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/31/AR20090131007

96.html_

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/31/AR2009013100796\

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Sick House, Suffering Family

Mold Leads to Big Health Problems, Legal Battle in Loudoun

By _ Mummolo_

(http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/jonathan+mummolo/)

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, February 1, 2009; Page A01

The migraines began three months after Meng moved into her new Loudoun

County house. They lasted for hours, forcing her to sleep in her closet

because she was so sensitive to light. Then her heart rate started spiking.

Before long, her 8-year-old daughter, Emma, started having headaches,

feeling dizzy and suffering nosebleeds. 's husband, , a runner on the

track team in college, was short of breath after climbing the stairs. A raft of

tests by doctors came back negative. The Mengs were chronically ill, and they

had no idea why....

Shoddy construction and unmended leaks had let moisture in, allowing

toxin-producing mold to grow and spread through the three-story house, the

Mengs

said. A Loudoun jury recently awarded the family $4.75 million, among the

largest awards in a mold case in Virginia.

Jurors said the home's builder, the Drees Co., was negligent and violated

the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. They said the company was responsible for

the couple's health problems but not Emma's, their youngest daughter....

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