In the last few weeks, two people close
to me and several more a little more distant have developed
severe responses to mold. One is a consultant in health
care. She became ghastly ill while cleaning her air
conditioner. She has moved but she moved to another
large apartment complex in the same city and it would seem
it has the same problems as the previous place.
Another, someone who first consulted me many months ago about
a strange array of health challenges, found mold in her bathroom. Knowing
what I have been through, she contacted me immediately for
advice and then proceeded very logically and appropriately. She
had a very qualified mold tester evaluate the situation;
she requested that her landlord remediate the property; and
she moved out (temporarily) to avoid further risk to herself. Both
of these individuals were already compromised so further
exposure to a dangerous situation would probably have been
fatal. They both lived in rented properties.
My best friend, whom I mentioned yesterday, owns her home
but it is believed the mold infection stemmed from her stay
in that famous San Francisco hotel so moving is not really
the issue. In
each of these cases, the potential for an insurance claim
for health exists and probably there is also the potential
for a law suit. Several
of you have written about your preparations for litigation;
to-date, no one who has contacted me has won a law suit.
My lawyer, who withdrew last week because of conflict interest
(with the insurance company), claims to have settled many
mold law suits, but none ever went to trial. The insurance
industry will spend practically any amount to avoid a settling
a claim and even more to make sure they win every trial. This
has nothing whatsoever to do with facts or the merits of
a case; it is entirely about money.
If the facts were clear and
civilization were as it could be and should be, a single
phone call to a landlord, builder, or insurance company would
result in an immediate response and attempt to remediate. For
the landlords, it is actually in their interest to maintain
their properties. It is better for the physical structure
of the building and better for the tenants. It is also
better for the entire neighborhood and work place because
one of the characteristics of mold is that it takes advantage
of opportunities to grow. It does this in a variety
of very clever ways, but for the most part, it depends on
air movement for dissemination. Once mold is activated,
it can generate such an elaborate feeding system that the
moisture does not even have to come from the original property. So,
as is being discovered in New Orleans and much of Texas,
mold really is a community issue, not a much narrower challenge
to one family. It's important to recognize this because
it makes the behavior of those responsible for remediation,
whether FEMA or State Farm or some other company, all the
more unconscionable if prompt and effective responses do
not take place.
It is not for me to counsel
someone on the merits of a law suit, not on what the benefits
might be nor whether or not the effort is justified, but
I urge those who are contemplating such action to consider
what I have previously refused to discuss.
Where health is concerned, the first objective ought to be
to protect the quality of life for yourself and those for
whom you are responsible. To win a large settlement,
one generally has to suffer a lot or lose someone you love
or prove that the consequences of your mold exposure have
resulted in permanent damage. I waived a health claim
because I was told that the defense would demand lumbar punctures. I
now realize that they never could have forced this on me,
but my lawyer and I were standing outside the courtroom where
I literally had one or two minutes to decide whether or not
I would pursue damages because the judge had instructed us
to make an immediate decision. I was then fined $1000. I
can assure you that writing a check to the insurance company
was one of the most agonizing and emotionally toxic experiences
of this entire ordeal.
The injustice is simply astounding but mold is really a David
and Goliath drama. To put this in perspective, let
me tell a bit more.
The Timeline
I had lost a year of my life
to chaos: flood, adjusters, contractors, construction
odors and mess, tedious demands by the insurance company
for ever more monumental proofs, ill health, and ultimately
a crisis with my finances and career that stemmed from losing
control over time and energy. Keep in mind, I was at
the bottom of the learning curve and had not yet discovered
a cure much less conquered the air quality issues in my house.
I did not rush out and file
a law suit. I explored all avenues of settlement, submitted
mold test results to the insurer, and tried to organize sensible
meetings to reach a settlement. Only three years later,
when the statute of limitations was running out, did I reluctantly
file a lawsuit.
First Result
The first response was
an interrogatory with a list of questions that would literally
have taken years to answer. In the first wave of legal
shenanigans, in addition to being fined, I lost many claims. Among
other things, not only will I not be compensated for treatment
or whatever long-term consequences there have been and might
still be, but I cannot address health. In short, the
reason for remediating the property is not that mold is hazardous
but that it doesn't belong there for real estate reasons
(as opposed to medical concerns.)
Since my saga began, I have listened to many other stories. For
instance, the daughter of a friend of mine was ticketed for
driving under the influence. Her fine was $450. I
didn't break any laws or damage any telephone poles, or smash
up anything. I had been pouring my life savings into
what has become an endlessly voracious blackhole. This
is why I say to others: take a walk. Get out
of the situation and let others chase you and try to force
you to pay your rent or mortgage, but save yourself.
Second
Court Debacle
On the same day I gave up
the chance to make a claim for damage to my health, I also
gave up the right to a claim for lost income because, I was
told I would have to supply the names and addresses of every
client—in the United States of America. Incredulous,
I said to the judge that the reason some people consult with
alternative practitioners is that they
want their issues to remain confidential. I actually
shipped all my records overseas to make sure that not a single
client would ever be compromised by anything happening in
my personal life.
Was this paranoid? I don't think so because one day
my attorney told me that the defense had requested permission
to video tape everything I have in storage. I asked
her exactly what the purpose of this filming venture is and
I called the manager of storage units to ask if they had
any experience with such demands.
"Discovery" is a very broad
term and the judge said I had given up my right to privacy
when I filed a law suit. I said, "I never gave up the
right to my clients' privacy." I expected that the
lawyers understood this perfectly, but much as they use "privilege" to
conceal a heap of relevant information, the rule purportedly
does not extend to people who counsel others on matters other
than the law. I frankly could not believe what I was
hearing, but the judge was adamant.
Despite this massive capitulation to pressure and injustice,
the defense still demanded copies of all emails to anyone
and everyone, names of friends and people I talked to on
the telephone, names of hotels where I stayed going back
many years, even names of people with whom I had discussed
personal issues. I asked my lawyer what they were
trying to find out. She always said "anything they
can use against you."
I tried to find the line between
harassment and discovery. I tried to define what is
invasive and what is realistic. Can they video tape
boxes or do they have the right to open the boxes and film
what is inside. The answer was always that they can
do whatever they want, and they will do this because they
want to wear me down. It has nothing whatsoever to
do with fairness or truth. It has to do with financial
warfare.
Hiding
Something?
For instance, when a close
friend died many years ago, I looked for answers I could
not find in normal places. I went to people who specialize
in death and dying, monks, psychics, channels, you name it. They
included all such inquiries as part of my "medical history." I
kept asking why and the answer was not at all what I expected. It
had nothing to do with the possibility that I might have
had a preexisting mold infection: the preexisting condition
they hoped to establish is that I am crazy and that I have
been crazy since before moving into the present house.
How
can I put this better? If I seek input or understanding
from someone who "hears voices," it's
quite possible my mind was not in order long before mold. No
one cares whether or not I was influenced by what I heard
or what use I made of different insights and perspectives: I
was simply not normal a long time ago. I therefore
did not comply with these requests because I found them invasive
and irrelevant.
The point is: there is
no limit whatsoever to the scope of the investigation so
I basically had to draw my own lines and say where my privacy
begins.
Privacy
Before mold, privacy began
at my property line. In the nearly six years I have
been in my present home, I have had never had a single dinner
party; but I have had a nearly endless parade of realtors,
insurance adjusters, contractors, "experts", lawyers, mold
testers, and others coming in and out. They park themselves
down and begin their work, sometimes using my desk, my phone,
my bathroom, and sometimes even my computer (obviously not
with permission) so when I tell people to save themselves,
I really mean, unless you just happen to like the scruffy
people insurance companies send to generate reports, you
really don't want a lawsuit.
Some people may say I am thin-skinned. I might agree,
but until you have had someone come into your home and use
your computer to look at illegal material on the internet,
you have no idea how thick skin needs to be to tolerate what
I have through. I
was gone for 45 minutes and my computer was upstairs where
no remediation was being done.
Insurance Issues
and Power
The hardest part of the mold
experience has not been my health but the insurance company. I
am a professional in the alternative health world, but a
total novice where law and insurance are concerned. I
am reasonably comfortable dealing with illness and absolutely
certain that there are cures for everything. One just
has to find the cure.
From early on in this process,
I have viewed my odyssey as the microcosm of the macrocosm. Shortly
after I moved here, there was a flood. I call this
the "O Ring Chapter" because there was a known defect
with the washing machine but the installer did not address
it. While no astronauts died as a result of this carelessness,
one beloved dog and four enchanting birds are now in heaven.
Next, there was an earthquake and then the house across the
street burned down. Then, there was 9/11 and then the
massive unraveling of our Constitution and of the belief
that this country is ruled by people and for people. Our
country seems to be obsessed with power and the extent to
which power can prevail. So, when I say my life has
been nothing but a miniaturized version of a bigger situation,
I am saying that while insurance companies purport to charge
premiums and issue policies so that when something goes wrong,
the problem will be righted, preferably in a friendly and
prompt manner, nothing is farther from the truth.
Likewise, the government has the option of using taxes to
lay waste to foreign countries or provide education, healthcare,
and countless other services for its own citizens. If
we doubt what our government is actually doing, ask any Gulf
War veteran what happens when he reports a medical problem
or ask anyone in New Orleans for an opinion of FEMA. This
is the macrocosm.
Insurance companies can relieve suffering or add incalculably
to suffering. Actually, I think that is a bad choice
of words. They calculate precisely how to add to suffering
because the goal is to wear you down— and they will
pay adjusters and lawyers to harass to save making good on
a claim. Then, they do exactly what the government
does: they spin. Officially, 99% of mold claimants
are whiners and complainers, meaning that their problems
are imaginary.
Whiners
and Complainers
Before we become involved
in a situation, we don't really know what will happen. One
of the questions in an interrogatory was whether I regretted
buying the house. Of course, I answered "yes", but
this also is used against me because it is construed to mean
I fit the profile of a whiner and complainer. You never
get to say what you want. In depositions, they ask
they questions; and if you ask, "When are you going to ask
something about mold," they either say they will get to it
or they move to strike. They try to make sure your
story is never told.
TV shows like Frontline and others have shown that insurance
companies avoid investigating. For instance, when adjusters
or inspectors would come to my house, I would try to show
them known problems, but they would say, "I don't need to
see that." The question then arises as to whether you
can force them to go into a crawl space. If you don't,
there will be nothing in the report about the crawl space. They
will then insist that the extent of the problem is what they
observed, but they deliberately fail to observe. The
claimant thinks his side of the story will eventually come
out, at least in the trial. Not so, they will use the
files they have to move to dismiss, insisting there is no
problem. The process is hugely time consuming, burdensome,
and intentionally defrauding. Likely as not, the court
will rubber stamp most of what passes through the alleged
halls of justice and the plaintiff will never be permitted
to say one word.
Advice
My advice to anyone contemplating
a law suit is to decide very early on whether or not you
are an Erin Brockowitz because if you are not, you are completely
ill-equipped for the bulldozing you are going to face. I'm
an idealist and I miscalculated. I thought that if
I said "mold", the insurance company would rush over to address
it. I was laboring under the false belief that they
didn't take my reports seriously but they would take a lawsuit
seriously. Wrong again. They took me so seriously
that they stonewalled to prevent setting any precedents.
There may be better lawyers and better judges and perhaps
even better insurance companies somewhere, but the bottom
line is still: save yourself. The system couldn't
care less about you. When you understand that, you
will know where you stand and perhaps make better decisions
than I did. This said, I might still have the potential
to be a real thorn in the side of this dirty business of
shafting innocent people so I might be the designated one
here.
I might also say that just because my case is going so badly
doesn't mean that it will always be this difficult for others. Judgments
have been awarded. My ex-lawyer has settled a few cases
but when I listened to her describing the settlements, I
nearly barfed because even the largest settlements were distributed
so thinly that they did not really right the wrongs. How
can I put it more clearly? If a family loses one child
and has another who is seriously ill and if their house has
to be remediated or burned down, a few hundred thousand is
not going to stretch far enough, especially after the lawyer
takes a significant piece of the pie.
Reflections
It's a Sunday and I tend to
be more philosophical on Sundays. In my hugely interesting
life, I have forged wonderful networks with people who share
common visions for the future of our Planet. When I
go to international conferences on alternative health, I
feel totally connected with the dedicated people working
with AIDS in Africa or cancer in India or now mold. I
always seek to see the bigger picture.
Humans in this world live in
constant danger of losing their connection with Nature. Our
homes are not built with natural materials. Our weather
patterns are changing. Our immune systems have been
compromised by vaccines, mercury toxicity, fluoridated water,
and probably also genetically modified food. In this
bigger picture, I see a challenge to survival and a real
danger that mold is better equipped to survive than people. I
have said elsewhere on this site that mold will have the
last laugh. There is mold on the Mir Space Station. Mold
is evidently more mutable than we are, but we must recognize
its function and limit its turf to what needs to be decomposed,
which at the moment does not include me or my house nor hopefully
you or yours!
At moments, I see windows to the future and where this journey
ends; I can even see some of the scenery along the way. In
the meantime, my goal is (1) to raise awareness of the issues,
(2) to reveal the resistance to truth which is intentional
and inhumane, and (3) to show what measures can reduce vulnerability
to mold infection.
With blessings!
Ingrid Naiman
1 October 2006
