Haunted by mold: Homeowner seeks relief

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Haunted by mold: Homeowner seeks relief

By: Charniga, The Record02/06/2006

http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?

newsid=16073587 & BRD=1170 & PAG=461 & dept_id=7021 & rfi=6

Troy,NY

BRUNSWICK - If toxic mold in your home is a problem, you may be

better off calling Ghostbusters than most of the regulatory agencies

in charge of protecting consumers, judging by one woman's story.

More than six months ago, The Record published an account of a town

resident who was forced to leave her home because the toxic mold

that had infested it was slowly poisoning her and her teenage

daughter, a problem that was not disclosed before the sale was

closed.

Now, e Choma, a 38-year-old single mother who works as a

project analyst for the Progressive Insurance Co., says she's in

much the same position today as she was then.

Apart from the $105,500 Choma borrowed from M & T Bank to buy the 6

Magill Ave. home in early 2004, she owes for the furniture that

fills the home, which she abandoned after a year, $10,000 for other

furniture she bought to fill her Colonie apartment after abandoning

her home and other bills. She estimates that $32,360 in property was

abandoned, in addition to gifts and items of sentimental value, plus

a new $7,000 roof that failed to stop water from entering the home.

Choma said she was forced to abandon the home because she is

allergic to the Stacchybotris and Aspergillus strains of mold, both

of which are toxic. The mold began to show up six months after she

bought the home in visible swaths, first in her hallway and then

throughout the two-story home's second floor.

Exposure to the mold caused her hair to fall out, memory loss,

headaches, peeling eyelids, nose bleeds and a fungal infection that

covered her face with red blotches. Her daughter, once an Averill

Park track star, also suffered respiratory problems, but both

women's symptoms subsided once they left the contaminated home.

Her homeowners' insurance company, Allstate, denied a claim last

year, calling the mold infestation a condition that existed before

Choma bought the house, discounting her claims the inspector she

hired before the closing never mentioned the infestation. M & T is now

moving to foreclose, Choma says, expecting what good credit she has

left will be ruined.

She stands to lose her one remaining possession, her truck, because

she made too large of a cash down payment and her many creditors

feel entitled to this $6,000 in equity even though she still owes

part of the truck's cost. She is also currently being audited by the

Internal Revenue Service for an income tax return.

" Mold is specifically excluded from being covered by a policy " as it

is not considered " a sudden and accidental loss " such as a tree

falling on a house, which would be covered by a typical homeowners

insurance policy, Allstate spokeswoman Jaclyn Darrohn said.

Though the initial inspection found nothing, the structural

engineers she later hired to inspect the home didn't need more than

a glance to determine the dormers that had been added to the the

second floor at some point were sinking, compromising the structural

integrity of the roof and letting in moisture. Choma blames the

structural deficiency for the mold, which she believes was

deliberately hidden from her before she bought the house.

She now feels cornered, with little support from the public sector,

while her creditors line up to divide what they can of her remaining

assets.

M & T Bank, which loaned her the money to buy the home, went as far as

to suggest on July 27 that she sell the home with full disclosure of

its problems for its assessed value of $30,000 and pass the funds

along to them in exchange for writing off the $70,000 balance, an

offer Choma refused.

Selling the home without full disclosure of its problems, as Choma

claims was done to her, is grounds for a charge of fraud.

Since the family who sold the house to Choma have not been charged

with a crime, their identities are being withheld.

Choma believes three other buyers approached the former owners but

backed away after seeing results of engineering reports. Their

identities may be in a file compiled during an investigation by the

state Department of State. She believes she could prove she was

defrauded if she could reach these persons and confirm they were

told of the home's problems while she was not, but she has been

unable to obtain access to the closed file.

She credits Brunswick Building Department employee Ron Neissen with

helping her most by not condemning her home. The town has since

declared the building, which is prone to flooding, unfit for

occupancy.

Between June 17 and 21, Choma sent letters to senators E.

Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gov. Pataki, state Senate

Majority Leader ph L. Bruno, Rensselaer County Legislature

Chairman Neil J. Kelleher and 11 other legislators, and state

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Only Schumer replied in writing, Choma said, with a form letter

thanking her for her concern with environmental protection but

making no indication her letter was actually read.

But on Friday, less than two hours after a reporter's call to

Schumer's Washington, D.C., office, a staffer in his Albany office

called Choma's cell phone to relay an offer from the senator to

write a letter to the IRS on her behalf, should she ask for this

assistance.

The only time that phone number was sent to Schumer's office was in

the June letter. She said believes the letter was kept on file

without action during the interceding months.

A Schumer staffer said Friday they were now in touch with Choma

and " aggressively seeking any opportunity to help " on the federal

level, specifically with her IRS audit, which Choma blames on a tax

preparer's error.

" This is obviously a very distressing situation for Ms. Choma and

her daughter, and we will do everything we can to help, " including

by contacting the state Department of Banking and federal Department

of Health and Human Services and possibly even arranging pro bono

representation by an attorney, Clinton said through her press office

Friday.

Only one of the county legislators replied via telephone,

saying " there was nothing they could do for me, but they would keep

me in their prayers. " County officials say their hands are tied.

The state Bureau of Consumer Fraud, which she reached out to through

Spitzer's Web site, advised her to pursue a settlement in small

claims court. But Choma says the maximum of $5,000 she could recover

wouldn't even cover her legal fees, let alone make a dent in her

debt associated with the house.

The state Department of State was silent, while a state Health

Department staffer assured her mold couldn't make her sick, but

advised her to stay out of the home anyway, Choma said.

A specialist hired by Choma told her it was the worst case he'd seen

in a decade.