Boca Raton Family says mold drove them from home

February 22, 2002

f7203375a0cc00a9.html

Family says mold drove them from home

By Spencer-Wendel, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 21, 2002

Mold drove Arie and Marcie Israelian and their kids from their suburban Boca

Raton home, and now they want the builder and the plumber to pay.

The Israelians discovered black mold creeping over the wall in their

daughter's bedroom and even in her mattress after a bathtub leaked for

years, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The mold, they said, caused

their children chronic health problems and made the tony, four-bedroom

house -- their " dream home " -- uninhabitable.

The Israelians and their two children left the house in the Saturnia

development in November soon after discovering the black spots creeping up

the bedroom wall, their Palm Beach County Circuit Court suit says.

They are suing the builder, G.L. Homes of Boca Raton, and Ridgeway Plumbing

of Boynton Beach, the plumbing contractor, for the value of the home and an

additional unspecified amount of money. The home and lot are appraised at

$275,000 for tax purposes, according to county property appraiser records.

Calls to both companies' officials were not returned late Wednesday.

The suit alleges that a simple back-flow drainpipe on the tub was never even

installed. Water seeped for years, spawning molds with names like

aspergillus, penicillium and cladosporium, to name a few, and spreading them

throughout the house.

" It's a horror story... the nightmare of my life, " said 37-year-old Marcie

Israelian from her temporary apartment in Boca Raton.

Her son, who was 1 month old when the family moved in, had chronic coughing,

but has improved since moving from the house. Now almost 3 years old, the

boy has been upset and confused by the move. " He keeps saying 'I want my

house,' " she said.

The parents don't want the house, though. " It's not fit for anybody, " Marcie

Israelian said.

Recommended Posts