Supreme Court upholds $200,000 jury award in Waterboro mold case

Friday Aug 05, 2005

Contact: Mark Robinson @ 286-1993, or 332-3798 (cell)

  Portland, ME – The Maine Supreme Judicial Court this morning unanimously affirmed a Superior Court jury award to a Waterboro couple for mold damage to their manufactured home.

  The verdict was entered against the manufacturer of the home and the dealer from whom the couple bought it.  Fleetwood Homes of Pennsylvania and Schiavi Homes were ordered by the Maine Superior Court to pay $62,708 to reimburse Ronald and Debra Searles for their original purchase price, due to mold contamination.  Fleetwood, the manufacturer, was ordered to pay $141,074 in compensation for the Searles' health problems from the mold, and $70,348 in attorney's fees and costs because it committed unfair trade practices.

  After the jury verdict in March 2004, Fleetwood appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, claiming that the trial judge, Justice G. Arthur Brennan, should not have allowed the Searles’ expert witness to state her medical opinion that the Searles’ health problems were caused by the presence of mold due to the lack of scientific evidence supporting the connection between mold and health problems.  Fleetwood also claimed on appeal that its conduct was not a violation of Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act.

  The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the doctor’s medical opinion was sufficiently reliable and scientifically based to be considered by the jury, and that Fleetwood's repeated failure to make repairs to the home under the warranty justified the award of attorney's fees for committing an unfair trade practice.

  According to the Searles' attorney, Peter W. Schroeter of Smith Elliott Smith & Garmey, PA of Saco, Maine, the decision is important because the jury verdict was the first of its kind in Maine to award damages for mold related health problems and it was the first time the Maine Supreme Judicial Court had considered the issue of whether medical evidence of mold causing health problems was sufficiently reliably and scientifically based to be accepted by the courts. 

  Justice Jon D. Levy explained the Court’s reasoning of the Supreme Judicial Court in a 20-page opinion.  A copy of the decision is available online at: http://www.courts.state.me.us/opinions/2005%20documents/05me94se.htm.

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