Owner of Newport Beach apartment complex sued by former tenants over mold claims
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Several former tenants are suing the owner of a Newport Beach apartment complex over claims of mold, which one couple said caused them serious health problems.
An attorney for the couple, Mark Nadeski and Anne Armogida, says their illnesses may be lifelong.
"It's just heartbreaking to see that she'll never have the life she used to have," Nadeski said in an emotional interview with ABC7, referring to Armogida.
The building owner already sued a contractor and received millions of dollars in a settlement.
Nadeski and Armogida say it's been eight years since they lived at the Newport Bluffs Apartment Village. They say while they were there they started having skin issues, rashes and worse.
"We were cognitively affected," Nadeski said, "and she just couldn't -- you know, struggles to form sentences, to remember things. And then then she started getting really physically ill."
The couple, along with more than a dozen former residents, filed a lawsuit claiming the apartment complex had problems with water and mold.
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Videos shared with ABC7 show some of the health issues they experienced, according to an attorney for Nadeski and Armogida.
"This case is about corporate profits over human health," attorney Alan Bell said in an interview.
Bell said the Irvine Co., which owns the apartment complex, knew about the problems.
"Our investigation led us to several whistleblowers who basically have told us that the Irvine Co. knew about the mold," Bell said.
The Irvine Co. denied that allegation in a response that said, in part: "Any statement that it is the policy of the Irvine Company to ignore or cover up mold or any other problem at our properties is demonstrably false. ... We are committed to the health and safety of our residents and have a policy of promptly responding to water intrusion issues."
In 2010, the Irvine Co. had filed a lawsuit against the construction company that built the apartments, alleging there was water intrusion that caused property damage.
"And as a result of the Irvine Co.'s lawsuit against their own general contractor, they recovered over $15 million," Bell said.
"That is the thing that I couldn't talk about for years without crying," Armogida told ABC7.
Another former tenant, Catherine Duboc, says that after a rainstorm she and her mother complained about a leak and that's when they discovered mold on the carpet.
"It looked like a lot of dirt on the carpet," Duboc said. "Well, we later found out it was actually black mold on the carpet that was coming through the floors."
The Irvine Co. commented specifically about Duboc's case, saying:
"While we are sorry to learn of Ms. Duboc's condition, we have not seen any evidence that it emanated from mold in her Newport Bluffs apartment. ... Water intrusion issues resulting from construction defects were identified and Irvine Company sued the responsible contractors and eventually settled with them for $15.5 million. Irvine Company invested $28.8 million to resolve and repair construction defects and water intrusion issues within Newport Bluffs, consistent with all city and state requirements."
Bell says it will be up to the courts to decide.
"These people are incurring an unbelievable amount of medical bills every month, and it will probably continue for the rest of their lives," he said.
