Victory in mold battle

[Guest guest]

Victory in mold battle

Couple win $2.3 million; home's a wreck

By McIntosh -- Bee Staff Writer

Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, May 11, 2006

Retired college administrator Harold drives to his home

on leafy Glen Aulin Court in Carmichael almost every day to

pick up the mail, but he hasn't dared live in the place since

2001.

For 30 years, the sprawling ranch house was an oasis of

colorful rose bushes and shade trees that anchored family

gatherings and withstood visits by eight energetic grandchildren.

From the street, the residence is an eye-catcher fit for the

pages of Better Homes and Gardens.

But step toward the front door and there are no curtains to

hide the ugly secret inside: Huge tracts of flooring, parts of

walls and even some ceilings have been sawed open and ripped

out after becoming contaminated by black mold and bacteria

after a water pipe burst in a crawl space.

Harold, 73, and his wife, D. Lee Harold, 74, say their

four-bedroom dream home is now a toxic teardown.

The couple have endured five years of waiting and legal

wrangling, but now hope they will soon get the cash to rip it

down and rebuild. A Sacramento Superior Court jury last week

awarded the Harolds $2.3 million in damages after a 10-week trial.

How it became a ruined shell after Harold and his wife, a

retired elementary school teacher, turned to their insurer for

help would give any homeowner cold sweats.

Jurors found the Harolds' insurer, California Casualty

Insurance Co., and Westmont Construction Inc., the insurer's

contractor, acted in bad faith and were negligent in handling

their 2000 insurance claim.

California Casualty insists the Harolds' allegations were

unfair, arguing that it properly investigated and assessed the

couple's claim and paid for damages.

M. , the company's lawyer acting for California

Casualty, said the insurer will likely appeal.

Westmont Construction owner Bernard Sequeira died in 2001. Ron

Enabnit, a Sacramento lawyer for the now-defunct firm,

declined comment. The companies have 60 days to appeal.

Harold's eyes filled with tears after the verdict as he tried

to discuss the case and the toll it took on him.

" The tears are not about the house, " Harold said, between

quiet sobs. " They're about my health. "

Harold, formerly an administrator in the math program at the

University of California, , blamed his worsening diabetes

on the stress caused by the contractor's negligence and the

court battle. As the dispute unfolded, he also was diagnosed

with colon cancer, although jurors were not given that

information.

The jury decided that California Casualty failed to exercise

reasonable care when it hired Westmont to perform the repairs

at the Harold home in 2000. It also found that the insurer

showed bad faith in its dealings and that Westmont interfered

in the couple's use and enjoyment of their home.

" All he wanted was for them to fix his house, " said W.

Alfert, the lead attorney for the Harolds. " And that, they

would not do. "

Added J. Cochrane, a second Harold attorney whose

specialty is construction cases: " Instead of fixing his house,

they gutted it and walked away. "

As the Harolds see it, their troubles started when they

returned from a weeklong Thanksgiving vacation in 2000. They

discovered that a pressurized hot water pipe had burst beneath

their floor. Their house was full of moisture. Once-gleaming

oak floors had buckled.

California Casualty sent its adjuster, and later Westmont, to

assess the situation and facilitate repairs a week after the

problem was discovered. Westmont was hired, although it had no

experience in mold remediation.

Lead attorney Alfert alleged that Westmont then made several

critical mistakes that harmed the Harolds' home:

The contractor failed to immediately dry out wet areas,

isolate and contain wet areas to stop mold spores from

spreading, and remove possessions once it realized mold was

present.

When Westmont finally installed a blower and dehumidifier to

dry out the house, it again failed to contain the affected

areas, ensuring mold spores from the crawl space were sucked

into and blown around the home as the equipment ran for a week.

Westmont denied those allegations, saying its work was

competent at all times. It suggested that the Harolds were

trying to get their insurer to pay for pre-existing mold

problems caused by poor grading and drainage.

If areas of their home were still wet months after Westmont's

work was done, that was due to ongoing moisture problems,

Westmont's lawyers said.

Westmont hired , a company that specialized in

asbestos contamination abatement. reported that the

particle board subflooring was contaminated with toxic black mold.

Westmont kept 's findings from the Harolds at first,

although they were given a copy of the report six months later

- an omission that the jury found was not intentional.

The Harolds moved into a town house at Selby Ranch, thinking

they would be there two weeks while repairs were done in 2001.

Westmont told them the move would spare them from noise and

dust, but it didn't inform them about the mold.

The Harolds remain in the town house five years later. In

court documents, California Casualty denied that its adjuster

and builder concealed the mold. It also denied it was

negligent or had acted in bad faith, saying a painter had

mentioned the mold to Harold in a written estimate he was

given in 2001.

Alfert dismissed the claims, saying the painting quote covered

a small patch of the house, while the insurer and builder knew

that toxic mold had spread in the subfloor and into the walls

because of Westmont's failure to properly dry out wet areas.

The Harolds also didn't know then how seriously mold could

threaten their health, he added.

The dangers of mold became a big issue in California in 2001

after the state enacted a law that set exposure limits and

abatement standards. That year, a Sacramento family won a $2.7

million suit after a jury found their landlord guilty of

negligence for mishandling mold and making them sick.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the potential

health hazards and symptoms associated with mold exposure

include allergic reactions, asthma and other respiratory

complaints. Nonetheless, there are currently no EPA

regulations or standards for airborne mold, and some critics

have said that concerns about the dangers have been exaggerated.

While California Casualty figured the Harolds' surviving house

shell could be repaired and its interior rebuilt, the owners

insisted it was uninhabitable after Westmont's repeated

decontamination efforts had failed, and floors and walls were

left open and exposed to the elements for more than a year and

a half.

By 2002, California Casualty said in court documents, it had

paid the Harolds $680,556 for their belongings, property

damage and living expenses.

That's when California Casualty cut the Harolds a final check

for $250,000, saying it was done with their claim. It left

them to fix the gutted house alone, leaving holes in floors

exposing the ground below.

Alfert asserted that much of the $680,000 was spent to correct

harm done by California Casualty's builder.

The Harolds sued in 2002 after learning it would cost $800,000

to rebuild - not $250,000 - ignoring loved ones who worried

they would never beat a big insurer.