Mold-Help.org - The world's largest TOXIC MOLD website
  • Mold Basics
    • Mold Overview
    • Mold Symptoms
    • Mold Types & Images
    • Fungal Infections
  • Resources and Tools
    • Home Care
    • Health & Diet
    • Tips for Parents
    • Coping with Loss
    • Private Research
    • Legal Suggestions
    • Mold in the Bible
  • Mold News
    • Current Headlines
    • “Sick Buildings”
    • The Environment
    • Construction Industry
    • Govt. & Politics
    • The Workplace
    • Landlords & Tenants
    • Insurance Companies
    • Schools & Institutions
    • Strange Fungal Tales
    • Personal Mold Stories
    • Additional Articles
  • Agencies & Experts
  • About Mold-Help
    • Mold-Help News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Mold blamed in health issues; $100 million lawsuit Pending

August 5, 2002/in Landlords & Tenants /by Contributor

11/09/03

Pasadena, CA – Something awful is happening to children at the Kings Villages housing complex, says longtime tenant Annie Williams.

Many wake in the night with heavy nosebleeds, and have asthma so bad their mothers keep breathing machines by their beds. Some have rashes resembling ringworm.

She says excessive mold in some units a by-product of years of sewage backups, bad plumbing, leaky roofs and other moisture-causing defects is making the children sick and may be causing health problems in some adults.

“I never heard tell of so many children on a breathing machine,” Williams said this week as neighbors crammed into her living room to share stories of sick children and uncaring property managers. “There are too many sick people in here.”

Both the city’s top environmental health official and the owners of the 33-year-old, 313-unit project in Northwest Pasadena acknowledge some units have mold and sick children living there, but say there’s no proof one is causing the other.

“I’m not disputing they have those conditions,” said Mel Lim, Pasadena’s environmental health division manager. “The difficult part is saying the mold caused that illness.”

Encino attorney Marshall L. Bitkower, who says he represents close to 50 current and former Kings Villages tenants, says he’s so confident that mold is causing the health problems that he will file a lawsuit Friday and ask for $100 million in punitive damages.

The city of San Francisco filed a somewhat similar lawsuit Jan. 31, saying the owners of four apartment complexes ignored orders to get rid of toxic mold and other problems. Many tenants of the federally subsidized buildings blamed the mold for rashes, hacking coughs, respiratory problems, headaches, nosebleeds and high blood pressure.

Richard Conway, the attorney for Kings Villages owner Affordable Housing Development Corp. of Clovis, said the company has recently been testing units for mold and will soon send in professionals to properly clean those units that need it.

“My clients are high quality operators who want to make sure their people are taken care of,” said Conway.

Bitkower said that, any time there’s a mold problem, management has historically painted over it instead of calling experts.

He said one of the units recently tested positive for an unusually high amount of stachybotrys a particularly toxic mold that can cause health problems once airborne.

“These mold items can easily be spread and carried from Kings Villages and could destroy Pasadena,” Bitkower wrote in a July 22 letter to city officials.

The tenant in that unit, Rhonda Witherspoon, showed how she keeps a machine next to her 10-year-old son’s bed that administers medication to control asthma attacks.

She says she’s sure the asthma would subside if she moved.

But “right now, I’m a single mother, so this is what I can afford,” Witherspoon said.

A wall in her bathroom was covered with grayish spots and specks.

“When I report the problem they paint over it, but paint don’t stop it,” Witherspoon complained.

Johnny Carson’s former sidekick Ed McMahon made the same complaint in April, suing his insurance company for $20 million. McMahon said that, after a flood in his home caused a stachybotrys mold, the contractors painted over it. McMahon complained that he and his wife became seriously ill and their sheepdog developed respiratory problems and died.

Children and pets are particularly susceptible to diseases caused by mold spores, Bitkower said.

Marilyn Walker, a neighborhood day-care provider, says she’s surprised so many of the children from Kings Villages have asthma and other problems such as learning disabilities.

“I see these babies being born healthy … and degenerating before my eyes,” Walker said.

Tenant Leopoldo Oliveros said his three children all have nosebleeds and asthma, and he fears he’s suffering memory loss.

Conway provided a July 17 letter which he said was sent to Kings Villages residents, saying an environmental testing firm had been hired to do on-site screenings for mold in several units. The letter goes on to provide a phone number to report problems.

“If we uncover mold or any other problem, we will work swiftly and thoroughly to eliminate it as soon as possible,” the letter says.

Bitkower says that none of his clients received the letter, which he said appears to be a damage-control tactic in anticipation of his lawsuit.

Another such tactic, he added, was a lease amendment tenants were recently urged to sign saying they “agree to maintain the premises in a manner that prevents the occurrence of an infestation of mold or mildew in the premises.”

Conway defended the document.

“There’s nothing tricky about it,” he said. “It’s saying: `If there’s a mold problem, you need to let us know about it.’ “

He characterized Bitkower’s letters to city officials as reckless and unprofessional.

“You have to have not only bombastic statements but also lay out some evidence,” said Conway.

As he downplayed the mold problem at Kings Villages, Conway also emphasized that his clients have been working hard to improve the project, which was dilapidated when they acquired it only about 18 months ago from Thomas Pottmeyer.

Part of the problem, according to Bitkower, Lim and others, is that scientists are still learning about mold and its effects upon people’s health. There are more than 300,000 species of mold, some more harmful than others, says mold specialist George Hatcher (www.byebyemold.com), who found the stachybotrys in Witherspoon’s apartment.

Last year, environmental activist Erin Brockovich testified before the state senate’s Health and Human Services committee about respiratory problems and sinus infections she blamed on mold problems in her Agoura Hills home.

The hearings led to the state’s Toxic Mold Protection Act, which became effective Jan. 1. The law directs the state Department of Health Services (DHS) to explore the feasibility of setting exposure limits and to devise standards for the assessment, identification and remediation of indoor mold.

Bitkower says he also favors a federal proposal to require mold inspection and remediation when a property is sold.

* Howard Breuer can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444, or by e-mail at howard@breuersgvn.com.

Contributor
Author: Contributor

Tags: toxic mold, black mold, stachybotrys, landlord, asthma, tenants, California, apartments, nosebleeds, renting
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://www.mold-help.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/moldhelp-654x300.png 0 0 Contributor https://www.mold-help.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/moldhelp-654x300.png Contributor2002-08-05 21:02:262019-03-29 20:28:18Mold blamed in health issues; $100 million lawsuit Pending
You might also like
Mold-Help logo Apartment Complexes Post Warning Signs
Mold-Help logo Mold In the La Venezia Apartments
Mold-Help logo A Hardworking Family Exposed to Mold and Chemicals
A white plate showing three different binds to help eliminate mold©Flairflickers.com Binders Help Eliminate Mold from Humans
Mold-Help logo Is That apartment hazardous to your health?
Mold-Help logo Mold Allegedly Kills CA Woman

Mold News

  • Current Headlines
  • "Sick Buildings"
  • The Environment
  • Construction Industry
  • Govt. & Politics
  • The Workplace
  • Landlords & Tenants
  • Insurance Companies
  • Schools & Institutions
  • Personal Mold Stories
  • Strange Fungal Tales
  • Additional Articles

Latest Posts

  • Michigan Family Finds Toxic Mold Inside Home
  • California Winter Storms: Water Damage and Mold Exposure Concerns in California
  • Office and Commercial Buildings at Risk for Mold after COVID-19 Closings
  • COVID-19 Symptoms May Include Loss of Taste and Smell
  • New Mold Detox Information on the Horizon
  • COVID-19 Courses of Action
  • Stachybotrys
  • Simple and Easy Ways to Prevent the Coronavirus
  • Your Air Conditioning Unit Helps Eliminate Mold
  • Construction Workers Are Learning to Control Dust and Debris

Search Our Site:

Need Help with Mold?

Are you being affected by mold or other mycotoxins in your environment? Our team and community has over 15 years experience and can provide guidance. You can reach us by submitting your contact or through our Facebook page.

Have a Story to Share?

We're looking for stories and input to expand our database and to add to the personal experiences we've received from the thousands of victims over the last 15. If mold has impacted your life, please take the time to share your story. Your information is confidential and will only be shared with your permission.

Seeking Mold Experts

Are you an expert in the treatment of mold-affected health illnesses, or a provider of services to victims of mycotoxin exposure? Submit your information for listing consideration in our Agencies & Experts resource database.

Additional Resources

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Glossary of Terms
  • Survivor Resources
  • General Inquiries
  • Legal Disclaimer

© Copyright - Mold-Help Organization
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Mold Basics
  • Resources and Tools
  • Agencies & Experts
  • Mold News
  • About Mold-Help
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Accept settingsHide notification only