CHAVEZ MOLD SETTLEMENT $650,000
35 TEACHERS, STUDENTS TO SHARE IN AWARD

By By Lee Sensenbrenner The Capital Times

A group of 35 teachers and students from Chavez Elementary have been awarded a settlement of $650,000 from the company they accused of allowing mold to grow in the Madison school during its construction.

The settlement announced Friday comes about four years after the new school on the city's southwest side was closed, torn open, cleaned and reconstructed to get rid of extensive mold throughout many classrooms.

Its builder, Westra Construction Co., went out of business in July 2005. In a separate agreement, Westra in 2002 had forgiven about $484,000 in construction costs to the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Jim Olson, an attorney with Lawton & Cates, which represented the teachers and students, said Friday's settlement is the final claim in the case. The subcontractors who took part in building Chavez Elementary have been cleared of liability, he said.

Kent Carnell, another Lawton & Cates attorney, said "the plaintiffs are happy that the case has been resolved and that their position has been vindicated that their illnesses were caused by the conditions existing at the school from the construction process."

The teachers and students represented in the case said that they suffered from asthma and other respiratory problems due to their daily exposure to mold in the building. An investigation had found that construction allowed damp interior walls and other moisture problems to go unchecked, leading to mold along baseboards, ceiling tiles and many parts of the building.

A steering committee of seven plaintiffs helped negotiate the lump sum amount, Olson said, and attorneys recommended a formula for distributing it based on damages. If the party members don't agree to it, there will be an arbitration proceeding.

"I'm hopeful that they will all have check in hand within 60 days," Olson said.

The case had been scheduled for a trial starting May 30.

Westra, a company that once employed 250 and was based in Waupun, no longer exists. When it closed last summer, Westra Chief Financial Officer Patrick Flynn told employees that the closing is "being caused by unforeseen business circumstances that occurred while Westra was in the midst of seeking capital."

Chavez Elementary teacher Julie Padley said that she still has asthma and other problems that she attributed to mold exposure in her kindergarten classroom in the fall of 2001.

"There's no longer anything resembling a common cold," she said Friday. "It always becomes a much bigger illness."

Padley said that after attorney fees and expenses were taken out of the settlement, she and her fellow plaintiffs would be dividing $400,000. She said that they will each be individually informed of their settlements, and will not know what others are receiving.

"As professionals working together, we didn't want to create more hard feelings," she said. "The good thing is, it's over."

lsensenbrenner@madison.com

From: www.madison.com