Charvat vs. Lincoln Military Property Management
*****NOTE: The Charvat family has received $0 from the trial and will not receive any compensation until the court process has been completed. We have personally spent over $25,000 throughout this process and hope to receive support during this critical point in the case, not only for our family, but for all other military families going though the same hardship.*****
We are the Charvat family – Matthew, Leigh, Anna, and Jonathan. Matt is an active duty service member in the United States Marine Corps. In April of 2015, Matt received orders to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and we signed a lease with Lincoln Military Property Management at the Gateway Village Community across the street from MCRD. At the time, Anna had just turned 5 years old and Jonathan was 2. 
Shortly after moving into the home, our whole family began to get chronically sick and experienced physical health symptoms that we had never experienced before - - intense respiratory and allergy-like symptoms, nasal and sinus congestion, severe headaches, insomnia, fatigue, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, diarrhea, and breathing problems. Anna gasped for air at night because she couldn’t breathe, causing her to lose sleep and leading to behavior problems the next day. Jonathan’s breathing sounded like Darth Vader. He would hold his ears and head in pain. At that time, he couldn’t talk and express what he was feeling, so he cried and pointed to the pain. The problems persisted and nothing we did seemed to help, including modifying our diet, taking vitamins/supplements, taking over-the-counter medicines, and multiple doctor visits at the Naval Medical Hospital. As parents, we were distraught and emotionally drained by the constant physical illness in the family.
In January of 2016, we noticed a strong, bad odor in the home - - a musty, dirty-sock smell. Additional symptoms began that were noticeably different - - extreme tiredness and weakness, dizziness and “out-of-it” feeling, along with all previous symptoms. We began to realize we felt better when we were out of the home, so we contacted the maintenance crew from Lincoln Military Property Management. Off and on for 3 weeks we called maintenance regarding our concerns. The maintenance crew conducted carbon monoxide testing and several walk throughs, but failed to identify what was causing our symptoms or where the smell was coming from. They also failed to properly inspect any of the air duct vent grills in the home.
In the evening of February 11, 2016 we turned the A/C on for the first time in a long time since it had been warmer than normal that week. The following day, February 12, 2016, the kids and Leigh were feeling unwell, as if our symptoms intensified. Leigh kept trying to think of what was happening and it dawned on her that the night prior we turned on the air conditioner. Leigh opened and closed all the vents in the home and found mold on all of them on the first and second floors. She immediately called the after hours customer service line to notify them of what was discovered and called a second time the following morning (Saturday Feb 13th 2016). Customer service told her over the phone that workers would respond by the end of the next business day, which would have been Monday Feb 15th 2016.
Despite what was discovered and based on their policy of mold as being "an emergency," they should have been at the house that day, however, they waited until Monday Feb 15th 2016. Leigh walked the maintenance workers throughout the home and showed them each and every vent in the home. They took the worst vent in the home which was located in the living room and told us they were going to have it tested (top photo). Hours later, we received a call from the maintenance department that a third-party HVAC company would be out the following day to clean the air ducts and that we needed to be out of the home for the duration of the day. Upon returning to the home after the job was completed, all the vents were replaced with brand new ones and the house smelled pleasant as if something was sprayed throughout the house. I asked the worker from the third-party HVAC company if he found any mold in the ducts or on the vents and he said that he did not.
Matt contacted Lincoln multiple times for the results of the moldy vent that was taken from the residence with no response. Weeks later, we still were feeling ill, so we took the vents off the wall and the mold was still on the drywall and inside ducts as well. 
Matt and I were in disbelief that they never cleaned the mold off the drywall before putting on the new vents and shocked that a HVAC company found it acceptable to leave mold inside the ducts.
We began to lose trust with housing and their remediation abilities which led us to hire our own mold inspector so we knew what our family was exposed to. Our first inspection was a swab sample in the kitchen vent which came back as confirmed cladosporium mold growth.
In early March of 2016, a few townhomes in the neighborhood were to be painted and ours was one of them and I kept thinking about the black stain on the exterior of our house, so I took pictures thinking maybe that was the source of water intrusion. 
We called the Gateway Village office about our concerns and they set up an appointment with the maintenance supervisor and their environmental specialist to come to the home. During their visit, we pointed out the area of confirmed mold growth, informed them of our declining health and symptoms, and showed them the pictures of the vents. They did a walk through, took off the vent in Anna's room and said that it was only “dust/dirt.” Their response to our concerns that day was, "Sorry we couldn't find anything wrong with the house." They also asked Matt if he or our family was allergic to penicillin, which we found very strange. We felt defeated and betrayed by Lincoln Military Property Management and the next day we put in our 30-day notice.
Three weeks later, we hired another mold inspector because we were still sick. Air samples from Anna's room determined that we had cladosporium and alternaria spore counts 7x higher inside than outside. A swab from the air intake confirmed fungal growth as well. The top floor water closet had so much moisture that the drywall would crumble and break if you pushed a pen or your finger against it. In the HVAC closet, there was visible water damage and the air filter was missing from when the ducts were supposedly “cleaned” a month prior by the contractor hired by Lincoln Military Property Management.
In April of 2016, just before we vacated the home, we had a final mold inspector come out and he took an air sample in the living room where we spent most of our time and where the worst moldy vent was taken by the maintenance workers in Feb 2016.
An air sample was taken in the attic and the living room and both revealed elevated levels of penicillium/aspergillus and 83,000 spores of stachybotrys in the living room - - an extremely elevated amount by any standard.
We knew at that point we needed to throw away the majority of our belongings if we wanted to recover and not contaminate our new home. It was extremely heartbreaking explaining to an almost 6 year old and 3 year old why we had to throw away their toys, stuffed animals, books, and bedding. As a military family, moving every 2-3 years is hard. The only security you have is your belongings and your memories that move with you to every new location. The last thing we wanted to do was pitch our life in a dumpster and we tried to clean and save as much as we could.
After finding out what we were exposed to, mold exposure in our blood tests and replacing all items lost, we contacted a lawyer.
In January of 2018 we had formally filed a lawsuit against San Diego Family Housing and Lincoln Military Property Management. In August of 2019, we went through a 3 week jury trial in San Diego. The jury heard our story and decided that both defendants were liable on all counts alleged against them, including breach of contract, negligence, breach of the implied warranty of habitability, nuisance, and constructive wrongful eviction. The jury decided that we should be reimbursed all of the rent we paid, the lost value of our personal belongings, our moving expenses, and our medical expenses, which totaled over $45,000. The jury also determined that each of us should recover $500,000 for our pain and suffering and emotional distress that we endured for over a year while living in the property.
After the jury verdict, San Diego Family Housing and Lincoln Military Property Management filed a motion for a new trial, arguing the amount awarded for non-economic damages for pain and suffering and emotional distress was excessive. Judge Randa Trapp granted their motion and ordered a new trial for the noneconomic damages issue. We have decided to appeal this motion because we feel that the defendants will never be satisfied with any amount determined by a jury - - even after a retrial - - and are intent on keeping us in litigation as long as possible. We feel they are retaliating against us and still trying to punish us for suing them to enforce our rights to a habitable and “mold-free” home as rent-paying tenants.
The appeal is expensive and a non-refundable payment of $30,000 is required to pay the appellate lawyer in San Diego. We are asking for donations to pay our appellate lawyer so we can continue this fight against substandard military housing for us and ALL military members across the country. If any of the money raised exceeds the amount required to fund the appeal, all excess proceeds will go to non-profit organizations for Military Families to assist them with costs associated with poor living and housing conditions.
Resources:
abc 10 interview
Military Times Article
Stars and Stripes Article
Complaint and Judgement on Jury Verdict
Ruling on Motion for New Jury Trial