Victims, insurers raise a stink about toxic mold

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Victims, insurers raise a stink about toxic mold

By Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, August 5, 2002

PLANTATION -- There's little middle ground in the contentious debate about

toxic mold, as a public hearing hosted by the Florida Department of

Insurance last week made clear.

Insurers insist that the fungus scare is mostly hype. Victims of the

poisonous spores call it a major menace.

Mold claims and litigation threaten to raise Florida's already-rocketing

homeowners insurance rates further, said Hartwig, chief economist of

the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group. In Texas, where one

homeowner won a $32 million mold claim, the typical homeowners policy has

climbed by $444 a year because of mold, he said.

" We call that the mold tax, " Hartwig said. " Whether or not you ever file a

mold claim, you're going to have to pay that cost. "

Nonsense, say victims of mold. If insurers didn't drag their feet on paying

mold claims, they could fix toxic mold damage more cheaply, before it

spreads, and without lawsuits.

" You shouldn't have to be at war with your insurance company to get a fair

settlement, " said Bill Coffman, a Miami adjuster who represents consumers in

claims against insurers.

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