'Mold Mania!' CD-ROM Explores Technical and Legal Sides of Mold
By Gary S. Mogel
The Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society has created an educational CD-ROM featuring everything you always wanted to know about mold, but wished you didn't have to ask.
Since many insurance professionals do have to ask, in light of the recent spate of claims and suits involving mold, the CD is a useful primer. "Mold Mania!," a two-plus hour Windows-based CD-ROM, places the media "feeding frenzy" currently devouring mold and the money to be made or lost from the hysteria into an orderly scientific and legal perspective. It is based on a symposium conducted by the Malvern, Pa.-based CPCU Society's Pacific Northwest Chapter.
The presentation, which combines video clips, photos, sound bytes and quizzes, is divided into six easily navigable sections: "all about mold"; prevention; testing; remediation; legal and coverage issues; and a resource center with mold-related articles and Web sites.
Despite its insurance-related origin, the CD is strongest in explaining the "technical" side of mold, including what it is, how it forms, how it can be prevented, and the ways in which it can be discovered and remediated. Water and moisture are stressed as the principal culprits in mold formation. The CD also points out that many of the respiratory maladies alleged to be mold-related are, in fact, caused by dust mites.
Parts of the insurance section of the CD may seem rudimentary for some members of the main target audience of underwriters and brokers, as it advises viewers, for example, that the goal of litigation is "to win," and explains the difference between "first-party" and "third-party" claims. The CD, however, goes on to present an instructional hypothetical case involving a family that discovers mold damage traceable to the synthetic stucco on their condo to demonstrate how a mold lawsuit is born. The family becomes embroiled in contentious litigation involving their insurer, developer, contractor and others regarding the cause of the loss (mold? rain? construction defects?) and the exclusions, exceptions and other features of their homeowners policy.
To order a copy of the CD, call the CPCU Society at (800)932-2728 and choose "option 4."
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, February 17, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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