A couple has sued a law firm for not properly handling their case regarding the purchase of a home “riddled with mold” following years of flood damage.
Kurt and Gwendolyn Tegtmeier filed their complaint April 17 in Hillsborough County Circuit Court against Scott W. Anderson, David Johnson, Annie Glisson and Johnson Daboll Anderson PLLC nka Johnson Litigation Group PLLC.
Anderson and Johnson are attorneys, and Glisson is a paralegal for JDA.
According to the complaint, the Tegtmeiers signed a contract to purchase a home from David and Jeanette Kerns in March 2019. The sale was closed April 19, 2019. In the seller’s property disclosure, the Kerns falsely represented the home had only experience one minor flooding event in the last 42 years. The complaint says the Kerns knew there had been substantial and significant flooding over the years.
“The home was riddled with mold as a result,” the complaint states. “If the Tegtmeiers had known of the true history and state of the home, they either would not have purchased it or would have done so at a drastically reduced, fair market value.”
Soon after they took possession of the home, the Tegtmeiers say they and their children began experiencing pulmonary health problems that progressively worsened. They hired Al Rabin from Certified Mold Assessments to inspect their home.
Rabin’s inspection on August 8, 2019, found several species of mold and myotoxins, according to the complaint. He said the mold had been present in the home for years and was the result of several past significant flooding events.
“In their communications with Rabin, the Tegtmeiers also learned that Rabin had previously inspected the home for the Kerns in December of 2015, after it had experienced a severe flooding event,” the complaint states. “At that time, Rabin found black mold throughout the home and recommended significant remediation, which was never accomplished by the Kerns.”
The couple retained Anderson, Johnson and the law firm of Johnson Daboll Anderson to prosecute a claim against the Kerns for their failure to disclose the mold in the home and the property’s history of flooding. Anderson was assigned the case, and Glisson was the paralegal handling non-legal case management duties.
On September 20, 2019, Anderson and Johnson filed a four-court complaint against the Kerns for negligence, breach of contract, fraud and violations of Florida’s Deceptive Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The couple says Anderson advised them to not take any steps to remediate the mold and to instead move out of the house. That resulted in additional and significant living expenses since then.
Anderson also told them to make a claim to their homeowners insurance carrier for the mold damages, according to the complaint even though he knew or should have known “such damages would not be covered by the Tegtmeiers’ policy and would trigger a cancellation of their policy.”
After making the claim, the carrier cancelled the policy. That caused the bank to subject the couple to forced place insurance coverage at an exorbitant cost, according to the complaint.
In October 2022, Anderson moved to set the case for trial. A hearing was scheduled for October 19, 2022, but Anderson failed to appear at the hearing, and the case was dismissd without prejudice. That means the couple could refile the claim within the statute of limitations.
“Anderson and Glisson regularly assured the Tegtmeiers that the case was proceeding appropriately and that the litigation was continuing, being well-managed and prosecuted,” the complaint states.
Three of the Tegtmeiers’ claims could be refiled by lawyers at JDA, including Anderson and Johnson, at any time before April 19, 2023, and the fourth by August 8, 2023. The couple learned their complaint had been dismissed in October 2022 in June 2024.
They accuse Anderson and Johnson of legal malpractice, and they accuse Glisson and the firm of negligence. They says they have suffered the loss of their ability to make a recovery against the Kerns, lost value of the home they purchased, additional costs obtaining the second residence and the increased cost of forced place insurance on their home.
The Tegtmeiers seek compensatory damages, taxable costs, pre-judgment interest and other relief.
They are being represented by Alan F. Wagner of Wagner McLaughlin & Whittemore in Tampa.
Hillsborough County Circuit Court case number 221291354