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A California family recently negotiated a landmark $22.6 million settlement in a toxic mold case, claiming that moldy lumber used to build their house created a poison prison that severely injured their son.
As one of the first successful mold lawsuits against a lumber yard - and the largest to involve a single-family home - the case should put the lumber industry on notice, said the family's attorney, Brian D. Witzer.
We hope this settlement sends a signal to lumber yards nationwide to treat mold growth issues seriously and establish polices to protect the public's health and safety, Witzer said.
Witzer predicted the settlement will spur an onslaught of similar claims, saying that mold litigation could become the next asbestos, noting that his firm has handled several cases in the last few years that have ended with settlements of more than $1 million.
However, attorneys for the defense believe the settlement is an aberration caused by unfavorable rulings prior to trial.
The settlement came the day after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria G. Chaney excluded ten of 17 expert witnesses for the lumber company, because the company missed court deadlines for witness lists and then backdated documents, according to Witzer.
In published reports after the settlement was announced the company said in a statement that it believed jurors would have completely vindicated it they had been able to hear its witnesses, which included a microbiologist and a toxicologist.
None of the seventeen defendants, including the lumber company, which agreed to pay...