Tamara McCreedy says her hair fell out, she coughed up blood and became sleepless after toxic mold grew in her Bonita Springs condo complex.
Those health effects and many more are alleged in a civil lawsuit filed this week by McCreedy in Lee Circuit Court against Pine Haven Condominium Association Inc.
McCreedy's suit says a fire on Sept. 2, 2002, in the condo directly below hers caused extensive damage to that unit. Compounding the fire damage was that done by water used to douse the flames at 28180 Pine Haven Way, unit 43.
"As a result of the fire and water damage, unit No. 43 was locked up and left in the dilapidated condition for approximately eight months," McCreedy's suit said.
Because the condo association locked and didn't clean up the damaged unit, "an ideal situation for the growth of mold was created," the suit said.
"We didn't do it," Carol Dawe, a member of the Pine Haven Condominium Association board of directors, said Wednesday. "We tried as best we can, but that's not our job. That's up to the people who owned it at the time (to clean it)."
The owners of the damaged unit aren't named as defendants in this lawsuit.
McCreedy, who Lee County Property Appraiser's Office records show still owns unit 47, couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment. Messages were left for her attorneys, Stephen C. Bullock and Foye B. Walker, but they were unavailable for comment.
Dawe said she knows it took awhile to clean the unit, and that toxic mold can grow in areas where water sits. But it wasn't the condo association's job to clean up. That's up to the owners, she said.
An inspection conducted Dec. 12, 2002, on the two units showed that mold and mold spores were in unit 43 and the air handler of McCreedy's condo, the lawsuit said.
Property records show McCreedy bought the condo in 2002. Its taxable value that year was $59,000, according to property records. McCreedy says in her lawsuit that her unit and its contents "drastically reduced or became worthless as a result of toxic mold infestation."
The condo in 2003 was listed at a taxable value of $42,000 and in 2004 at $43,270, property records show.
