MAHONING COUNTY Suit alleges mold caused Sick Building Syndrome
The county board of health told Compass West to replace the carpet that covers the water stains.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- A Compass West resident who believes mold in her apartment made her sick has filed a lawsuit seeking at least $25,000 in damages from owners of the apartment complex.
In the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Michelle Guy, 32, said she and her children contracted Sick Building Syndrome from mold under her apartment's carpet and walls.
The lawsuit states that according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sick Building Syndrome is characterized by health conditions that seem to be linked to time spent in a building.
People do not have to have identifiable illnesses to have Sick Building Syndrome, the lawsuit states. Guy said she and her children have had nosebleeds, headaches, fatigue, back pain and diarrhea.
"There are days my throat hurts, and there are days it doesn't," said Guy's 11-year-old daughter, Tera. "It's really annoying."
Tera has a brother, John, 13.
Dr. Roy Kerry, a Greenville, Pa., doctor who treats allergies, said he has tested Guy and her son and daughter for an allergy to mold. The results from the test should be available in about two weeks, he said.
Guy said she told Compass West managers about the mold and asked them to replace the apartment's carpet, as well as the windows. She also asked them for a transfer to a new apartment. Mahoning County District Board of Health officials said they told Compass West management to remove the carpet.
"All I wanted was carpeting and a transfer," she said. "This could've been solved."
The windows were replaced, Guy said, but the carpet remains.
A Compass West property manager who didn't give her name said the lawsuit had been given to the complex's attorney. She didn't comment further.
Guy stressed that she doesn't have a personal conflict with Compass West management. However, she added that she didn't think she'd be setting a good example for her children unless she stood up for what she believes is right.
Compass West accepts government subsidies, and Guy pays $20 a month in rent. She said she has gotten little response from the federal government about the mold.
Guy added that she can't afford to move. She said she recently got a job at a store in Austintown and she is planning to attend Youngstown State University.
"Minimum wage is not going to get me out of here," she said. "I wish I had somewhere to go."
Guy said she moved to the apartment in 1998, and, "everything was all right in the beginning." Then, in 2000, she found mushrooms growing in the corner of her apartment.
A few months later, Guy pulled up her carpet and found black stains on her floor. She said the stains are from moisture where mold could grow.
Guy said Compass West managers blamed her family for the stains.
hill@vindy.com