The scars on Catherine Duboc’s face and hands are sad souvenirs of her days living at the upscale Newport Bluffs apartment homes, where she contends exposure to toxic mold left her with angry, red sores all over her body.
But more troubling to Duboc, who was 27 at the time of her claimed exposure in 2014, is the alleged injury to her brain, leaving her mentally foggy and unable to work.
“The Bluffs was in the best location. It was luxury and it represented, to me, status,” said Duboc, who worked in pharmaceutical sales. “I finally could afford to live there. Little did I know it would be the thing to ruin my life.”
All the while, the Irvine Co., which owns the Newport Beach apartments where Duboc paid $2,800 a month to live, allegedly did not tell tenants their units were tainted with mold.
Duboc is one of 17 former tenants suing the Irvine Co. over alleged mold exposure at the Tuscan-influenced, 1,052-unit apartment complex, which features three resort-style pools and in-home washers and dryers. Monthly rents there range from $2,865 to $7,670, according to Apartments.com.
The lawsuit’s claims are backed by former Irvine Co. employees, who allege in litigation and testimony that the firm’s practice was to keep mold problems hidden from tenants and to make only cosmetic repairs.
“It’s all about profits over people. To (the Irvine Co.), to save a buck is more important than to save a life, in my opinion,” said attorney Alan Bell, who represents the former tenants. Bell is a Florida-licensed attorney who specializes in mold exposure and works with local counsel on cases in several states. In the Newport Bluffs case, he is working with attorneys Benjamin Sampson and Joshua Bordin-Wosk.
The former tenants allege in their lawsuit that the Irvine Co. misrepresented to them that mold was not inside their apartments, that any water intrusion issues were fixed and that construction work at Newport Bluffs was purely for aesthetic reasons.
The…
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