LAS VEGAS -- Officials from Nye County, Nev., have agreed to settlements totaling $1.85 million from contractors it blamed for persistent mold problems in the county justice complex. County of Nye v. Modern Controls & Refrigeration, et al., No. 02-A-448475 (Nev. Dist., Clark Cty.).

At issue were mold problems in the Nye County Justice Complex, which opened in July 1999 in Pahrump, Nev. The building housed the district and justice of the peace courts, the county sheriff's department, a 911 communications center and county offices.

Employees began complaining of odors a month after the complex opened.  Those initial odor problems were traced to a faulty septic system at a neighboring property. But in November 1999, 36 county employees filed complaints with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Tests conducted in the following year for radon, carbon dioxide, temperature and humidity problems were inconclusive. It wasn't until January 2001 that the county undertook a comprehensive mold investigation that resulted in the county temporarily closing the complex on June 22, 2001, and relocating employees.

The county replaced its heating and air conditioning system and undertook extensive renovation of the justice complex before re-opening on Sept. 4, 2001. The complex was closed again a few weeks later, however, and some areas underwent a second attempt at mold cleaning and removal between October 2001 and April 2003, when the complex was re-opened.

Nye County officials said they spent a total of $3.5 million on remediation, relocation of employees and investigation. They sued numerous contractor defendants, alleging defective construction.

Experts retained by the county included internist and environmental and occupational medicine specialist James Craner, M.D., of Reno, Nev.; consulting engineer Malcolm Lewis of CTG Forensics in Irvine, Calif.; and construction expert Ed Martinet of MC Consultants in Carlsbad, Calif.

The contractor defendants maintained that mold remediation contractor Terra Nova was negligent in performing the initial remediation, which necessitated additional remediation and greatly increased costs, according to a settlement report.

Settling defendants included Interstate Mechanical ($475,000); Modern Controls ($375,000); Delta Controls ($75,000); Leland Dille Architects ($100,000); Engineered System Associates ($150,000); Intermountain Construction ($625,000); and The Trane Co. ($15,000).

There was also a report that Leland Dille Architects had a 'burning limits' errors and omissions policy, in which policy limits were eroded by litigation and other costs, and that another unnamed defendant is the subject of a declaratory judgment action seeking to rescind its CGL policy. The county's mold remediation contractor was said to be
uninsured.

Alexander Robertson IV and Rosie L. Martinez of Robertson & Vick of Calabasas, Calif., and Las Vegas represented Nye County.

Defense counsel included James Pengilly and Timothy Budd of Lorber, Greenfield, Polito & Pengilly in Poway, Calif., and Kevin Helm of Helm & Associates in Las Vegas for Intermountain Construction; David S. Lee and Natasha Brooks of Lee & Russell in Las Vegas for Interstate Mechanic; Peter C. Brown of Las Vegas for Modern Controls and Refrigeration; Michael M. Edwards Jr. for Leland Dille Architects; and B. Alverson of Las Vegas for Trane Co.
 
 

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