Local United Airlines employees and travelers are plaintiffs in a
lawsuit filed against Denver International Airport July 31 in Denver
District Court claiming they have been exposed to unsafe mold and
fungi at the airport since 1995.
The suit was filed by the Childress & Zdeb, Ld of Chicago, one of the
nation's leading mold litigation firms, and Fognani Guibord & Homsy,
of Denver, one of the national premier environmental law firms, on
behalf of travelers and United employees.
FORT WORTH, Texas (Fort Worth Star Telegram) -- As an investigator in
the thick of an environmental mystery, Ken McBride spends his days
slogging through dark crawl spaces in school buildings, lifting grimy
carpets and poking through cobwebs above ceilings.
Each case presents the same tricky question: Is something in the air
making children sick?
In a span of a few days, McBride prowls through a Burleson elementary
school where there have been reports of foul air and children with
itchy eyes, then he walks the grounds of a Dallas high school where
students smell "something dead." Back in Tarrant County, he responds
to Grapevine parents who are concerned that they might have a "sick"
elementary school building because of repeated mold discoveries.
McBride, an industrial hygienist for the Texas Department of Health,
handles indoor air concerns in a whopping 49-county territory. All by
himself.
Many insurance companies are calling mold the new asbestos.
Thousands of insurance claims have poured in across the country
seeking damages from mold and now insurance companies are fighting
back, saying the suits are based on junk science.
For civil litigation attorneys, mold is gold. Since 1999, mold-related
lawsuits against building contractors, insurance companies, hotels,
schools and airports have increased by 300 percent, and 10,000 suits
are pending nationwide.