Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993 TAG: 9304100108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
EXTERMINATOR ORDERED TO PAY FAMILY
The Horton family lives in a trailer next to their Carroll County house.It's as close as they can get to their real home, which 2 1/2 years ago was rendered unlivable by an exterminating company that sprayed 10 times the amount of pesticide needed to rid the house of carpenter ants, a lawsuit alleges.
This week in federal court, a jury ordered Leo's Exterminating Co. to pay the Hortons $565,000 in damages.
James Horton; his wife, Connie; and his daughter, April, probably will never be able to go back inside their house, according to John Basilone, a Portsmouth lawyer who represented the family during a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
And for anyone else to venture inside "would be like sending a canary into a coal mine," Basilone said.
The Hortons could not be reached for comment; Basilone said he has advised them not to talk about the case because the jury's verdict could be appealed.
Not only have the Hortons been unable to return to their home; they had to leave clothing and other personal belongings inside because of the contamination.
Basilone said the family's exposure to organophosphate, the chemical that Leo's Exterminating sprayed through the house, has weakened their immune systems and made them "chemically hypersensitive."
"This has caused this family to have tremendous upheaval for the past 2 1/2 years, not just because they couldn't live in their own home but also because of the injuries they received," Basilone said.
The Hortons' problems started in August 1990, when contractors remodeling their home found carpenter ants - so many that they could hear a "chewing" sound in the wood.
Following a tip from the contractor, the Hortons called Leo's Exterminating Co., a Bristol, Tenn.-based company with branches in Southwest Virginia.
Connie Horton testified in a deposition that when a Leo's employee showed up the morning of Aug. 20 to apply the pesticide, his eyes were bloodshot and he seemed dazed.
Later, the Hortons would learn that the man was an eighth-grade dropout and an alcoholic who sometimes missed work for months, according to court records.
But on that day, they followed the company's instructions - leaving the house for several days after the pesticide was sprayed.
When they returned on Aug. 26, the Hortons noticed a strong odor and soon began to experience watering eyes, nausea, headaches and burning in their noses and throats.
They left and tried to return several days later, but it only got worse. After experiencing memory loss and an inability to concentrate, they were forced to leave the house for good.
The family since has moved from one temporary home to another - first to the basement of a relative's house, then to a vacant church home until a new minister moved in, and finally to the mobile home.
In their lawsuit, the Hortons accused Leo's Exterminating of misapplying the pesticide, failing to warn them of the dangers involved in the procedure and failing to properly train or supervise their employees.
The president of Leo's Exterminating was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment, a secretary said. The company's Richmond attorney also could not be reached.
But according to court records, the company denied that the Hortons' illnesses were related to the pesticide treatment. Dr. Raymond Harbison of Florida testified that he could find no scientific basis to support the Hortons' complaints.
The Hortons, however, had their own medical expert to testify that by having been made chemically hypersensitive by the pesticide, even being exposed to household bleach can cause problems for them now.
"The house will never be lived in by them, because the cleanup would have to involve the use of bleach," Basilone said.
The company denied using Dursban, a type of pesticide much stronger than Diazinon, which was supposed to have been used in the treatment. But tests conducted by the Virginia Department of Agriculture found traces of Dursban in the home, Basilone said.
The company also maintained that it used hand-powered pumps to spray the pesticide - not the heavy-duty, motor-powered pump that James Horton thought he saw in use on the day the exterminator came to his house.