Tort Lawyers Discover Gold in Mold

January 10, 2002

Daily Policy Digest

Legal Issues / Class Action Lawsuits

Wednesday, January 09, 2002

For plaintiffs' lawyers, household mold could be the next asbestos. Some

10,000 suits naming contractors and insurers are building up in the courts.

The common theme is that mold in their homes is making their clients sick --

causing everything from headaches and dizziness to neurological damage.

Mold is the visible growth of any of 100,000 species of fungus.

While certain types of mold contain a mycotoxin that can be fatal, such

cases are extremely rare.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recanted an earlier

report that implicated a type of mold in the bleeding lungs of eight

Cleveland infants -- admitting that the study used unorthodox collection

techniques and was flawed -- and now says that mold can cause allergic

reactions, such as watery noses.

It also states that there is no proven link between mold and illnesses.

But the legal damage has already been done. Mold litigation has spread

across the country. School districts in Illinois and Ohio have been hit by

suits from students claiming health problems. A Texas jury awarded $32.1

million to a Dallas executive -- although the insurance company involved is

appealing.

Insurers estimate they paid out $670 million for mold-related property

damage in Texas alone in 2001 -- more than double the total in 1999.

Source: Ellen Egan, " The Fungus that Ate Sacramento, " Forbes, January

21, 2001.

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