Mold is becoming a celebrity and not by its choice…
Add Star Jones to the list that also includes Michael Jordan, Ed McMahon, Erin Brokovich, Bianca Jagger, and Lou Ferrigno. What do these celebrities all have in common? Their homes have all become infested with mold and they have sued their landlord, builder, or insurance company for not taking responsibility for the problem.
The former co-host of “The View” and lawyer is suing her condo board for $700,000 in costs and damages. She claims that the board agreed to fix water reoccurring problems in 2004, but never took any proper action. This resulted in mold growth which the board has further refused to remediate. This is a common example where building managers do not responsibly fix a small water problem and let it develop into a major mold problem.
Mold is especially insufferable to Star Jones because she has asthma. Inhaling mold spares can exacerbate and trigger asthma attacks in people sensitive to mold. Recently mold has been blamed for tripling the asthma rate in America over the last 20 years.
Jones has claimed that because of the mold and her susceptibility to it she has not had “full use” of her home since 2006.
“As a result of said damage and environmental condition, it is unhealthy and dangerous to reside in the premises. As such, I have obtained comparable living arrangements at the costs of $17,861 a month,” says Jones in documents against the condo board.
Landlords, building managers, and condo boards beware – by not taking responsibility for mold in your apartment buildings you risk not only harming your tenants and ending up in court, but fuel a bad reputation for your business, and for all landlords. This is especially true if one of your tenants happens to be famous; this will guarantee you a wealth of negative publicity.
Email This Post
Print This Post
You must log in to post a comment.