Jessica Pieklo of Care2.com reports that 14 years after Todd and Cynthia Ebling sued Prestwick Square Apartments and its management company alleging that pesticides used in their apartment caused sever neurological problems in two of their children, a southern Indiana jury awarded the couple $23.5 million in connection with the claim. According to the lawsuit, the children suffered from seizures after coming in contact with the spray.
Shortly after moving into an apartment in 1994 the children were hospitalized with seizures and other neurological problems. The family moved about a year later.
According to their attorney, the children’s health problems were caused by exposure to Creal-O, a chemical based on the pesticide Diazinon. The pesticide was eventually banned for residential use in 2004 by the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the suit, the chemical was applied in the wrong fashion, even though at the time it was legal to use in a residential context. More was applied than should have been and it was applied in a careless manner. The result was pesticide on the base boards, carpeting, and wall coverings.
Exposure resulted in tragic health effects on the children. Their now 20 year old daughter is developmentally stalled at two years old. The other child, while not as severely injured as his sister, struggles academically and socially. The family unit has been disrupted as a result. Todd and Cynthia are now divorced and had been struggling to provide for the cost of care for their daughter.
The tragedy of the Ebling case is that it took so long for both the judicial system and the regulatory system to remedy the obvious wrong -- exposure to a toxic chemical.
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