Lawsuit tops $115,000 in Romeo Community Schools mold case

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Lawsuit tops $115,000 in mold case

By Chad Halcom, Macomb Daily Staff Writer March 05, 2002

For something that Romeo Community Schools doesn't concede to be a

legitimate health concern, the legal stakes keep escalating.

Wonder Makers Environmental Inc., a Kalamazoo-based air quality and

environmental testing firm that inspected Washington Elementary School,

filed a lawsuit Monday seeking damages above $115,000 from the Romeo

district and several other defendants.

At issue are mold and other potential health hazards found at the school

last May, plus district officials' allegedly " misleading " claims afterward

that the problems were " overstated. "

" These statements ... put (Wonder Makers) in false light, (and) the

publication of these remarks has resulted in damage to (its) reputation in

the community and economic loss, " documents in the lawsuit state.

Wonder Makers and its CEO, Pinto, together claim breach of contract,

unjust enrichment, defamation and false light by the district,

superintendent Kingsnorth, school board trustee Southby, attorney

s, and several other private companies with some connection to

the mold and cleanup issue.

" The entire problem the school is having is because it ignored these

findings and tried to handle it on the cheap, " said Wonder Makers attorney

Norman A. Yatooma. " A serious problem eventually became an astronomical

one. "

The dispute centers around the alleged discovery of some toxic molds --

black mold was named as one possible contaminant -- and the subsequent

cleanup efforts displacing hundreds of students.

Workers uncovered toxic mold this summer during a routine job to replace

ceiling tiles in the school. The board voted in August to close the school

for cleanup purposes, and students were farmed out to other elementaries and

a part of Romeo High School.

" Because they're claiming something doesn't mean their claim is true, " Kings

north said. " It's like any disagreement between two parties; we each have

our own reasonings. "

Approximately 265 students from grades 3-5 returned to the school in

January, and Kingsnorth said a few more in kindergarten and first grades

have returned since. Officials expect the entire Washington student body to

return to the school building next week.

Pinto and Wonder Makers also claim the district never paid the firm for its

air quality testing and remediation plans, totaling $90,125. Kingsnorth

confirmed there was an unpaid balance but said he thought it was somewhere

around $75,000.

" When this all comes out, there will be legitimate reasons we've felt they

should not be paid, " Kingsnorth said, but he would not elaborate.

The lawsuit seeks $25,000 on each of the defamation claims, plus the $90,125

which Wonder Makers says it had lowered to $74,339 " as a courtesy to Romeo "

earlier in the dispute.

Romeo Community Schools also faces a lawsuit from Statewide Disaster

Restoration Inc., a remediation contracting firm hired to clean up mold and

other contaminants at Washington, demanding $522,600 plus costs and attorney

fees.

Other litigants seeking damages in the black mold controversy are a

Utica-based contractor who claims he was never paid for a ceiling tile

replacement job tied to the controversy, and Garth , parent to a child

allegedly affected by the mold.

©The Macomb Daily 2002