Court rejects toxic mold claim

A state court has decided that a family's suit for damages from exposure to so-called "toxic mold" could not be supported by scientific evidence.

The lawsuit pitted former apartment tenants against their building's owner after the tenants complained of various general health problems over a six-year period. The tenants, a husband, wife and young daughter, claimed their maladies improved after they moved out of the apartment.

Health and legal experts say the presence of mold in a building can be problematic and expensive for a variety of reasons [see "Health fears over mold are overblown," Winter 2006], yet most agree that no scientifically proven link exists between health problems and the presence of mold in a building.

Published reports say that Colin and Pamela Fraser complained of respiratory problems, rashes and fatigue after they moved into their New York City apartment in the late 1990s. Reports say the Frasers infant daughter also had health problems before the Frasers moved out of the apartment in December 2002.

In a fall 2006 ruling, New York County Supreme Court Judge Shirley W. Kornreich said that the Frasers failed to scientifically prove a link between their alleged illnesses and the presence of any mold in their apartment (Fraser v. 301-52 Townhouse Corp., 2006).

"The two scientific documents found most compelling by the court... found no causative link," Judge Kornreich wrote in her opinion.

"These two papers were issued by prestigious scientific organizations," the judge continued, "and, most important, reviewed the available research papers on the subject for validity, a task far beyond the capability of this court. The papers concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support the contention that a causal relationship exists between health outcomes and damp and/or moldy indoor environments. Indeed, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine... issued a formal position paper coming to the same conclusion - 'scientific evidence does not support the proposition that human health has been adversely affected by inhaled mycotoxins in the home, school, or office environment.'"

Judge Kornreich also noted in her ruling that scientists have not been able to agree on standards for how to measure mold, and they have not been able to agree on how much of a given mold might be dangerous to humans.