Ed McMahon Joins Calif. Mold Claim Game

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, April, 11, 3:46 p.m.EST?Ed McMahon, the onetime "Tonight Show" sidekick ofJohnny Carson and $10 million sweepstakes spokesman, is looking foran $80 million payoff from his insurance company.

In an action that could make Mr. McMahon and his deceased dogMuffin the next mold damage icons, the television personality andhis wife, Pamela, have filed suit against Travelers subsidiaryAmerican Equity Insurance Company of Scottsdale, Ariz.

A Travelers' representative in New Haven, Conn., Marlene Ibsen,said the insurer had not seen legal papers yet and couldn'tcomment.

The complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges,among other things, that the insurer and the Los Angeles-basedSouthern California Insurance Adjusters were negligent in theirhandling of a toxic mold claim by failing to warn the couple of thedanger, and have backed away from promises to fully reimburse thecouple.

It charges breach of contract, bad faith, emotional damage, andconduct involving "malice, fraud and oppression."

According to the complaint, after a water leak from a Jacuzzispread dangerous mold throughout his 8,000-square-foot Cold WaterCanyon home, the mold sickened Mr. McMahon and his wife, whileMuffin "died from mold-related illness."

In California, where more than 2,000 mold damage claims at theend of last year made the state second only to Texas, Mr. McMahonis not the first notable to lodge a claim. Filing a previous actionwas Erin Brockovich, the paralegal whose legal crusades againstcorporate polluters were dramatized in the Oscar-winning moviestarring Julia Roberts.

Janine Gibford, personal lines advocate for the Association ofCalifornia Insurance Companies in Sacramento, said the McMahon suitcould accelerate mold issues in California. "Every time you getstar power behind an issue, it does pick up speed," she noted.

As to Mr. McMahon and his mold claims, "I don't know whetherhe'll be the new poster boy or not," she said. "Anything ispossible."

An American Insurance Association representative, Nicole Mahrt,said the McMahon suit "just raises the profile of the [mold] issueand makes it more important to develop standards and sound scienceon this." She noted that California had approved a measure todevelop mold abatement standards, which still hasn't beenfunded.

The suit, filed by attorney Allan Browne, also names severalcontractors as defendants.