April 24, 2009 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Carri Geer Thevenot
By CARRI GEER THEVENOT
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The widow of a former Clark County Health District employee claims her husband suffered mold poisoning in the workplace and unwittingly carried mold toxins home, where he contaminated her and others.
Wendy Pauluk was among several plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit this week against the Health District. According to the District Court complaint, three Health District employees knew about the mold problem at the Shadow Lane building and intentionally concealed it from the plaintiffs.
“This is a sick building, and it’s still open, and people are still working over there,” attorney Robert Eglet said Thursday. “And it’s dangerous.”
According to the lawsuit, Dan Pauluk “died on July 17, 2007 of mold poisoning from working at the Health District building on Shadow Lane.” He was 57.
Eglet said the man’s wife, Wendy, daughter Chrissy and caregiver, Dean Zachrison, suffered “cross-contamination” in the Pauluks’ Henderson home. Chrissy Pauluk and Zachrison both are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Dan Pauluk’s wife and two daughters, Chrissy and Jaime, previously filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Health District. The case, which describes Jaime Pauluk as a resident of Portland, Ore., is pending in federal court.
On Thursday, Health District spokeswoman Stephanie Bethel declined to comment on any of the litigation surrounding the mold issue.
According to this week’s lawsuit, the Pauluks were forced to move out of their Henderson home because of the defendants’ conduct. Toxins in the home have made it uninhabitable, the document alleges.
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Laurie Boswell, a former Health District employee, and her husband, Robert.
The lawsuit claims Health District employees Glenn Savage, Edward Wojcik, Jerry Boyd and other employees allowed the Shadow Lane building “to become and remain contaminated with toxic mold.”
It claims Laurie Boswell was contaminated with toxic mold while she was employed at the Health District.
“She has suffered serious physical and emotional injuries as a result of her contamination,” according to the complaint.
Eglet said Robert Boswell was not contaminated but is pursuing a loss-of-consortium claim.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants engaged in fraud when they denied that a toxic mold problem existed. The defendants “did have knowledge of substantial moisture problems whenever it rained from the many leaks caught by buckets, and the many clean-up attempts post rain,” the document claims.
The defendants “were fully aware of their failed ‘clean-up’ attempts” and the high rate of sickness at the Health District, according to the lawsuit.
Eglet said he is weighing the viability of a class-action lawsuit. Others might have symptoms but do not realize they were caused by exposure to toxic mold, he said.
“I think it’s important to get this information out to the public and particularly to people who work in that building,” he said.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
