MIAMI (CBS4) ―
All is not well with Miami's downtown federal courthouse complex. In fact, one of the buildings itself may be sick.  
A brand new 14-story federal courthouse in downtown Miami is surrounded by a chain-link fence, still unoccupied three years after the date it was supposed to open. Cost to U.S. taxpayers: $163 million so far, way beyond the original $100 million budget.
Across the street is the historic limestone courthouse first opened in 1933, and there are reports of possibly hazardous mold in the building, raising questions whether the fungus caused or contributed to a magistrate judge's unexpected death in September 2006 from a respiratory illness.
The judge's children also may file a wrongful death lawsuit, depending on the results of a new expert analysis of the mold's health risks.  
The mold is "a huge, huge problem," attorney Alan Goldfarb told the Associated Press. His law firm is representing the children of late Magistrate Judge Theodore Klein, 66, who had been in good health, an avid skier and jogger.  
Miami's federal court has long been one of the nation's busiest.  
Its recent high-profile criminal cases include the trial of al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and the fraud conviction of once-powerful Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Drug kingpins, money launderers, Latin American dictators like Panama's Manuel Noriega and corrupt politicians have been on  the dockets over the years.  
The heavy caseload led Congress in 1998 to approve construction of the new courthouse, built to resemble a ship gliding among a series of grassy hills that look like waves. The lawn waves' sculptor was Maya Lin, known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.  
Delays has plagued the project, known formally as the Willkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, including major electrical problems, water damage from hurricanes and a dispute between the building's owner, the General Services Administration, and its main contractor.  
The Miami federal court clerk, Steve Larimore, said in an interview that some courtrooms still don't have viable sound and video capabilities necessary for trials and hearings.   
So a state-of-the-art building originally scheduled to open in 2005 remains unused. Larimore and GSA officials say the new target is for full occupancy in gradual steps by the end of this year.
The inability to open the new courthouse effectively means more people have had to work longer in the old courthouse, a Spanish-Mediterranean Revival structure built from Florida Keys stone that is officially named the David W. Dyer building.  
Goldfarb and fellow attorneys Liah Catanese and Justin Leto along with a team of environmental experts spent three days in early February checking for mold throughout the Dyer building.  
The experts wore masks and protection suits and occasionally asked the attorneys to leave because of concerns about the mold they encountered. Mold has been linked to asthma, allergies, respiratory, skin and eye problems and lung infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  
Mold, mold spores, water damage and peeling paint are apparent on all three floors and the basement of the building, including the area once occupied by Klein, according to their preliminary findings. It will take another two or three weeks for the analysis to determine the type of mold and whether is it hazardous to human health.  
Previous studies conducted on the Dyer building have also found elevated levels of mold in some places, resulting in the gutting of certain rooms, changes to air conditioning and filtration systems and other work. One study, commissioned in 2006 after Klein became ill, suggested that his sickness "could be attributed to exposure to molds."  
Several court employees have complained about allergies, nosebleeds and other health problems, but none would comment to The AP on the record. One longtime employee who would speak only on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk about the issue said many people are "terrified" about the mold problem and upset that the building is in such poor condition.
 http://cbs4.com/local/Miami.courthouse.federal.2.653032.html
 
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