Did She Deserve $3 Million?

There was recently a mold victim awarded millions of dollars, which created a new stir in mold litigation debates. Did the victim deserve $3.3 million for having mold permanently disable her? Or did attorneys convince a gullible jury of her exaggerated health problems? “The Future of Mold” weighs in.

Robin Minium worked out of her apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona since 2000. But since 2002, the health of the 47-year-old American Express project manager has been deteriorating. Minium learned about mold in the building from her neighbors and her doctor confirmed mold as the cause of her health problems. In 2004, Robin Minium moved into a hotel and never came back to her building.

Andrea Watters claims that Robin experienced permanent injuries, impairing her from working and disabling her for the rest of her life. Because the apartment building did not take action to clean up the mold, Watters was able to convince the jury the deterioration in Minium’s health was worth $3.3 million.

But Minium’s claim is a little suspicious. I could not find a thorough description of her symptoms. Only two things seem to be reported. The first is “hair loss.” This is definitely not a common effect from mold exposure. The second symptom is short-term memory loss. Watters says this keeps her from performing day-to-day functions such as balancing a checkbook or finding her keys. Even though memory loss is a symptom of toxic mold poisoning, there could be many other causes of it. Minium should be experiencing more tangible symptoms as well. But this may just be the symptoms that the media reported.

The biggest mistake the defense made was riding their entire case on the fact that mold does not cause lasting health effects – which we know isn’t true. Mold does cause permanent health effects including memory loss and other brain disorders, asthma, infection, and death. WHat the defense should have done, was argue that Minium’s specific symptoms were caused by another factor other than mold, and maybe they would have had a better chance at winning the case.

Regardless of whether Robin Minium was justified with this award or not, it will definitely raise the interest in mold litigation. $3.3 million is a lot of money for a single personal injury lawsuit.

Tagged as: health effects, health problems, memory loss, mold, mold exposure, mold litigation, mold poisoning, short term memory loss, toxic mold