mold-symptom.com

Tulare County has shelled out more than $1 million in the past three years to defend itself in a toxic mold lawsuit and to rid its Visalia courthouse of mold.
 

Nearly a week after the county settled a suit filed by Tulare County Superior Court Judge Elisabeth Krant, the county's risk manager said legal fees and other expenses spent defending itself have cost the county $835,812.

"Ultimately it's going to be more than that," Pat Mihm said, noting that the county is still waiting for bills to trickle in for legal fees and experts.

Additionally, since 2000, the county has spent $200,000 for services related to air testing and getting rid of mold in the Tulare County Courthouse, said Kristin Bennett, the county's assistant chief administrative officer.

Krant, meanwhile, could collect as much as $500,000 once lawsuits filed by her and the county against subcontractors who worked on the courthouse are settled. Krant claimed in her lawsuit that she was made seriously ill by exposure to a toxic mold found in her courthouse chambers.

Last week, Krant settled her case with the county for $40,000, her lawyer, Alexander Robertson, said.

But to date, she has already collected $227,500 from other settlements, court records show.

As part of the county's settlement with Krant last week, she now becomes the sole plaintiff in claims against subcontractors who worked on the west wing of the courthouse where Krant's chambers were.

"[Krant] gets to step into the county's shoes to seek reimbursement," Robertson said.

From those claims, involving at least three remaining subcontractors, Krant ex-pects to walk away with at least $40,000 more, plus any additional damages she can prove, Robertson said.

That's money the county would have been entitled to had it continued as a plaintiff in those suits, Robertson said.

On top of that, Krant expects to recover between $80,000 and $180,000 from claims she has filed individually against subcontractors who worked on the courthouse, Robertson said.

"We hope to have the entire case resolved very shortly," he said.

The county, meanwhile, is paying with tax dollars. The cost of measuring and cleaning up mold has come out of the county's major maintenance fund, Bennett said.

And the legal fees are paid out of the county's insurance fund, Mihm said. The county is self-insured up to $1 million. Essentially that works the same way as a deductible on auto or homeowners insurance. Any legal fees above $1 million would be recoverable through the county's excess insurance carrier, the Excess Insurance Authority for the California State Association of Counties, Mihm said.

Krant sued the county and County Counsel Kathleen Bales-Lange after a patch of mold, later found to be stachybotrys, a toxic form of mold, was discovered in 1999 by county employees on a pipe above the ceiling of Krant's court chambers.

In her lawsuit, Krant said a "black, slimy mold" contaminated the ceiling tiles in her chambers, leading to hair loss, dizziness, episodic vertigo, acute pain in her abdomen, respiratory distress, ringing in the ears, facial swelling and severe rashes.

She charged that Bales-Lange was directly responsible for the seriousness of her illness because she "concealed and suppressed material information about the toxicity and cancer-causing nature of the fungi."

Bales-Lange, whose office supervises the county's risk manager, denied that.

Now, several years later, the county's Resource Management Agency conducts monthly visual checks for mold in the Tulare County Courthouse and responds to any area where there is a water leak, a moisture problem, or wherever there is a request to check for mold Bennett said.

The last inspection that turned up mold in the courthouse was conducted in September, Bennett said. Some of the mold found during that inspection turned up to be stachybotrys, she said.