Mold Costs One Builder $3 Million

A moldy house has been a headache for a central Ohio family and a $3 million liability for the homebuilder.

A Franklin County judge has awarded Roman and Jennifer Costner $3 million for their three-year-saga. Last week, another judge says construction firm Maronda Homes has to pay the family’s almost $700,000 legal bill.

Maronda Homes says the ruling is completely unfair and says the homeowners stopped them from fixing the house. The builder says they will consider an appeal.

The Costners say they bought their Reynoldsburg subdivision’s house for $219,000 but were forced out after toxic mold took over. Court documents show the south side of the house wasn’t attached to the foundation, the wrong windows led to leaks and waterproofing wasn’t done properly.

Latest Comments

• July 19, 2009 at 12:18 pm

  Jordan Fogal says:

  If you want to see mold and associated unethical behavior....www.jordan-fogal.com
• June 11, 2008 at 2:54 am

  Bob says:

  You're missing the point. Maronda homes built the house for them. All an inspector could have seen on the date of sale was the bare ground. That's why Ohio applies the Con... read more
• June 11, 2008 at 8:28 am

  Jordan Fogal says:

  We know all about home inspections. Lets take inspections in ALabama for example. If you hire a licenced inspector and he misses MAJOR defects then you can file a complaint wi... read more