Your Legal Pathway To Mold Exposure & Health Safety

Introduction and Kristina Baehru2019s Background 0:00

Welcome to Mold, Mycotoxins, and Chronic Illness Summit. I'm your host, Dr. Ann Shippy. And next we get to speak with Kristina Baehr. Previously, she was a high stakes corporate litigator and an assistant U.S. attorney for the United States. Currently, she's a national trial lawyer for sick families, helping them to recover from governments or companies that made them sick. Thank you so much for joining us. I know this has been a really busy week for you. It's been a huge week, but it's perfect timing.

I'm so glad to be here. Thank you so much. I would love it just, you know, for the audience to really get to connect with you, if you just start out a little bit with your own story and and what's brought you to this point? Well, I was born in New York City. No kidding. I, I, you know, I was working in big litigation, doing IP litigation, which was very detail oriented, billion dollar cases. And I started feeling dizzy and blurred vision. And I started having some strange thoughts I'd never had before.

Like, maybe I should drive into oncoming traffic. Oh, I think I should. Wow. I I'd never had anything like that before. I was feeling really angry a lot. Also, I would wake up and feel like I'd been hit by a truck. I had these rashes that wouldn't go away. I started getting headaches and then migraines. And I'd never had migraines before. And I started going to doctors. Great doctors. Really, really great doctors who told me, you know, you have four children. You work in big law. Maybe you should think of a new job.

And I believe them. And so I left my big law job and I went to the U.S. attorney's office, and I was Kristina 2.0. I was gluten free and sugar free and dairy free. Dr. Shippy, you would have been really proud. Okay. There was no alcohol. I was exercising. I was sleeping 8 hours. I mean, I was determined to get well. And I only got worse. And then they sent us to work at home. And that's when I really took a deep dive. And my family did, too. And I couldn't figure out what was going on. I mean, I knew something was wrong with me, but I got everybody into therapy.

I mean, my daughter was in therapy. She had become violent. My son was regressing in his developmental milestones. He started running into walls. And I mean, I think I thought that I was just, you know, supermom getting everybody the extra help they needed without realizing that there was a root cause. And Dr. Picardo in Austin gave me a mycotoxin test, and my scores were through the roof. I had already been tested for Lyme and, you know, parasites and a whole host of things. But she had the gears and is just think it might be more.

Expensive to test that degree of symptoms with you and your children. That was really good detective work. It really it really was. I mean, I was determined to get well, and I think she saved my life. And so we hired a wonderful mold inspector and Tim Taylor, and he came to my house and he sat down in the living room and he said, Tell me about your family. And I mean, he's an inspector. Why does he want to know what my family?

Personal Health Decline and Mold Discovery 3:34

But I told him about Maddie. And he took a flashlight to her wall, and he said, I often find it behind the wall of the kid, most of it. And he found faint water damage. Really. Gruesome. That you couldn't see without the flashlight. Now, you took an error sample right by the wall. We found sticky batteries and we opened the wall, and it was full of stachybotrys and and that was the beginning of the rest, Right? So I started building our case and detective work, figuring out when I was doing personal injury for the U.S.

Attorney's office at that time. So I knew what a good case looked like. And I thought if there was ever a case, this is it. A family of six or super sick, we lost our house and everything in it in the middle of a pandemic. And I started calling around and no one would even return my call. No personal injury. Lawyers wanted to talk about it. So I found that one lawyer near here who does wrongful death cases. And I just said, Hey, can I have 15 minutes of your time just to pick your brain? And he was the only one I found who had mold on his website.

And he didn't return my call, didn't even have a paralegal call me or an assistant call me or. And I thought, That's. Kind of bizarre as a attorney, too. Attorney? I know, right? Even talk to you. So if you can't get the attention of another attorney, how is the average person supposed to. Like you have to die to get representation in this field? Oh, yeah. I mean, what does that even mean? So I left the U.S. Attorney's office and I thought, I'm going to help other families. So I built a personal injury firm that I couldn't find for my own family.

And I called it just well, because my husband came up with it. Actually, I just wanted to get well. That was all I wanted. That's all I said over and over again. I just want to be well. And that's what my clients want to do and that's what I want for them. When you get that sick, that really is all that matters as well. So that's that's a great message. So I'm inspired by you because that's what you do. You do that detective work all the time and you can get well. So I'm so lucky to to get to do that.

And you're so lucky to get to do it on the making. Thanks. Right on the legal side. But and so, you know, unfortunately, we've had to kind of learn through our own bodies that you can get well right. Even when you're devastatingly ill. Yeah. So tell me more about your journey. I know you've got some news to share. So we won our own family's case this week in a jury trial. The jury came back on Wednesday and awarded $3.1 million. We went to trial against the HVAC company. We sued the builder, the roofer, the engineer and a few others because this house really was a comedy of errors.

As we as we got into it, we found more and more problems with it. But this that company, the HR company offered like 30 grand to settle the case. And that's really how that's how trials happen is when one side is completely just on a different planet and the parties are so far apart on price. But that lawyer offered $30,000 and got a $3 million verdict against him. And that's groundbreaking. That just happened. There's not much precedents for that. So we I'm not aware of a jury trial in Texas about mold real, you know, real loss to the home family case like that since the Ballard case 20 years ago.

So this in a lot of ways, this case is like the case because you had a jury was very upset at at the idea of toxic mold. Right. At you lose your home. We lost her. Not everyone does of course, but we lost our home and everything in it in the middle of a pandemic. So I hope that this will be, you know, the beginning of many more cases. They're hard, hard cases to win. I don't want any of your viewers to be watching this. I'm just going to get $1,000,000 tomorrow. That does not happen. They're hard fought, but they're worth fighting for because our mission is to educate and make sure that this doesn't happen again.

Well, and for the people doing the work, doing the construction, doing hvac systems to realize how how important their work is for the inhabitants of the buildings just to be healthy, like they're they really what it really matters. It really matters. And I think you may know the history, but what happened legally in Texas is the Ballard case. Got that tens of millions of dollars judgment against an insurance company that was in the 2000. After that personal injury lawyers stopped bringing cases because the personal injury portion of that case was thrown out.

So personal injury lawyers were like, I'm not we're not going to bring these cases anymore. Then insurance lawyers. Well, the insurance defense just generally went in, changed changed insurance policies to exclude toxic mold. So as a result, you can switch back and they can come back and say our insurance policy doesn't apply. And the person you're suing is judgment proof so you don't have a case. So as a result, that that really killed mold litigation in Texas in the 2000s and nobody in until me has had the guts to really take it on.

And I should correct that because that is not true. There's another wonderful lawyer who's been doing these cases for decades,

Building the Case and Leaving Government Work 10:04

and her name is Karen Ferris, and she has done a tremendous job, but she's only one person and people couldn't find her. I couldn't find her when I was looking for a lawyer in the beginning. So there is just there's a need for this in Texas. And and around the country, because if we don't hold them responsible, they don't care. Right. The jury system is what enforces safety rules in our country. And if we don't enforce the safety rules, builders stop caring about mold and they build houses that companies don't have any problem over resizing systems because people just want to be cool, even though they know full well that they're going to create mold in the walls.

So, you know, I think that there's a real opportunity for change here, but we have to we have to get that out there and educate. And you're doing you're doing that, Dr. Shippy in your sphere. And this is my little contribution from my little legal sphere over here. This is huge because really, I you know, it's just felt a bit futile, too, for people to engage in any kind of, you know, legal situation. I myself had a situation that I, I ended up just walking away from because and paying a bunch of money to a landlord because I didn't know if it was just going to end up being I was going to end up spending more money on the lawsuit than, you know, and then.

Just. Just paying the rest of my lease and so we really do need these changes to to be happening so that there are some precedents. And we don't we don't charge. So we I only work on contingency for that reason because I've been in your in your shoes. I actually had to pay my lawyer so I paid my lawyer almost $1,000,000 at this point and hundreds of thousands of dollars. So now, thankfully, the jury verdict actually included attorney's fees. So I'm going to get a lot of that back. But it was an enormous expense, and I did it for the good of the order, not for our family, but for everyone.

But in my own cases, because I remember what that felt like and I didn't have the cash. Right. I had to beg, borrow and steal to make that happen. I, I do not take hourly work. I do not charge anyone for our services. I only work on contingencies so that our interests are totally aligned. I win. You win. Right? And one of the things that I'm really passionate about is I want everyone to have a call back. Right? Not everyone's going to have a viable case. These cases are hard to prove in Texas and around the country, but I want people to at least have a call, right, with someone who cares, who says, here's why you have a viable case and here's why you don't.

And I learned, by the way, early on that it couldn't be me because I CNBC did a story on my family and I got a thousand calls in two weeks. And I tried to do I tried to do this and this this week there's been some news coverage, which is really great. And my intake director has said, you know, step away from your computer, Kristina. You do not have time to take every call. But I'm just passionate that that may not be me, but you will talk to somebody. And I couldn't. It to find great time lawyers around the country who will take these cases so that you can call just well, and we will send you the list of resources we wish we had had, you know, including how to get a mycotoxins test, how to find a good mold inspector, how to find a mold doctor who's qualified, you know, just the stuff that you wish you had known or I wish I had known.

And then we'll do a call with them and talk to them about the possibility of a case. And if they're in a state where we have partner counsel, we will send their case to that counsel for them to do another call with a lawyer in their state. So we can't take every case, but at the very least, we can help every single person who who needs help. That's I. I love that mission and I know it really comes from your heart based on what your family, you and your family went through in that year, It sounds like you really felt your life and falling away.

And look at you now. I mean, never in a million years would I think that I would be on be doing this. And my lawyer asked me that at at the trial when I was talking to the jury on direct exam, said, you know, did you ever think that you would be a plaintiff in a case? And I said, Absolutely not. You know, lawyers don't. That's not what we want. Right. And not only that, but I sat through a trial where they presented some brain images that showed that my brain's damaged. And what I told the jury was I lost part of my brain, but I gained this tremendous superpower, which is empathy for my clients, not all.

And I think going through trial was the last step of that of now. I've been through the whole process and I can I have tremendous, tremendous empathy for the people who have been through toxic exposure. And I understand. And I think that's why that's going to that's going to lead to a lot of good in the world, because I have this new understanding, even if it's a sad superpower, it's it's very real. It's important, though, and it because it really like it fuels you on the hard days. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk a little bit more.

Do you mind talking a little bit more about your case and. Your and. Why you think it actually was successful so that the people listening can kind of get their head around. What's possible? Let me tell you the things that I look for when I'm taking a case and I can talk about. Might that be great? Okay, so I look for did you hire an independent certified mold inspector? A lot of people are in these houses and these in these

Winning the Familyu2019s Jury Trial 16:48

big apartment buildings, and they want the builder, the owner or the landlord to hire a certified inspector. And that's natural, right? Of course you do. That's their job. Their job is maintenance. They should hire someone. I guarantee you the person they hire will not be objective. They will come in, they will take a mold sample in the middle of the room, and they will tell you that your house is fine or your apartment is fine. And so literally. There are inspectors that don't believe that molds the thing.

And they're in more support of the real estate industry, and they're just known for that. Yeah, And it's not hard. Right. And I have a really fun time deposing those people because they ask, well, where are you most likely to find mold if you're looking for it? If the mold resides in the walls, are you more likely to find it in the middle of the room or close to a wall? And they never want to answer that question, you know, because they're coming in and just taking these air samples in the middle of the room, the least likely place to find the mold and of course, we know that the stack up of trays and K tell me are heavy.

So they're not going to show up in those air samples anyway. So did you hire a certified objective mold assessor? And there is some that I, I really love working with. And so if you reach out to our office, we'll send you a list of the ones that I really trust. But in any, you know, in any state, you can find them through their particular associations that you that you want to work with. So when we can we can get you that is it is is is it time barred? You know, if you've been in that apartment and you've been dealing with it for four years, you're probably not going to have a case because statute of limitations in most states is two years.

So we ask, when did you find the mold. I didn't use? That's important. So that really does give a sense of urgency. And is there a wrongdoer? Okay. The fact that there was mold is sad and I'm sorry. I don't really have a like a great jury trial case if it's just happened right. But did someone know about it? Did they tell you it was dust, which happens all the time? Did they refuse to hire an inspector? Did they hire a mediator who wasn't licensed? Did they get a carpet cleaner to clean your air ducts, which happens all the time, Right.

Why is it what a carpet cleaner was their first call to a painter. Right. All of those things are are bad signs and deceptive. And we can bring a deceptive Trade Practices Act claim for that kind of wrongdoing. So we always look for wrongdoing. And then are you willing to move out or have you left? Because Dr. Shippy, I know that lots of your patients and lots of my would be clients aren't able to move out. And I understand that. And that's okay. I can't tell you to leave your home, but I just can't take your case because I can't say your house is uninhabitable if you're still living there.

Likewise with your with whether that's your house or a rental. I can't say it's uninhabitable if you're still there. And I learned that, really. And that's a big thing for me, too, because it's really hard to get people well if they aren't willing to leave or at least do the right level of remediation. So and you can retreat, you can move in, remediate, move back. That's okay with me as long as the remediation is fine. But it's when you have brain fog, it's really hard to understand. You need to leave your house. Yeah.

When you're especially if you're dealing with somebody else's brain. BLOCK Right. One of you might be able to see through the brain fog and be like, maybe we should get out of this place. And in my own story, by the way, I mean, I didn't want to leave and my husband sure didn't want to, but I remember having drinks with a friend and I was crying. It was like house you know, And and she's like, You don't feel good in this house. Maybe you should leave it and like, go stay somewhere else for a while.

And I have four children, two of one of whom was running into walls and screaming all day. And the other kid has become violent against her big brother. So these are this is not a scenario that I can just take into a friend's house, right? I mean, I have nowhere to go. And then she tossed me her keys to a friend's house nearby. I mean, to her house nearby. It was 30 minutes away and we were able to go there for free. So I have empathy for not everybody has that that scenario. What's amazing to me, though, is the number of people that like once they're like, Oh God, I really need to get out of here.

Something opens up like that there, you know, somebody guest house or a place that you can go. Or a tent. To help you. Tori Spelling right now is staying in a camper, okay? She's like a movie star and she's in a camper. I'm like a have and she's posting pictures online of her in her camper. Right. Because she's evacuated for mold. You figure it out? Yeah. Because if you don't, I want to be really clear about this. Mold can kill you. And I had a 31 year old client who moved back into the house. I told her to leave, and she died on her couch in the house.

I told her to leave. So sorry. And I just can't. I. I mean. Not on my watch. Not on my watch, right? I can't. I can't. And so I. I won't even talk to people unless they have or are willing to to move out. And so that's it. That's a very that's a very I mean, I, I had another client who called in her kid was going to die, was going to die, you know, like anaphylactic shock and still wondering, should I stay? So

How Mold Cases Work and What Lawyers Look For 23:38

the brain fox real. I just don't take the call until they're ready to move out. And sometimes it takes some time for them to to decide to move out. But those are really the things that I look at is and then is the defendant solve it because I don't want to take a case against, you know, some landlord who rents the house next door. That's just not that's not going to be good for me. It's not going to be good for my client and it's not going to lead to to a valid a viable recovery. So not everyone's going to have a case, not everyone's going to have a case.

But lots of people lots of people do. And they should be they should have representation because it's through that representation that we can accomplish change. And I even have people put it into the settlement agreements that they're going to change their policies. And that's I've done that several to explain. What do you mean, explain that? That sounds interesting. Well, I use depositions and I use the case itself to educate them. So let me give you one example. I'm talking to this privately owned place in Dallas, big, big apartment complex.

And they have sewage leaks periodically, as you know, they have pipes and there are sewage leaks in all these places sometimes. So it happens when it happens. They put a fan on it. That's the word we just put a fan on it. And so I'm deposing this woman. I'm like, okay, well, sewage is sewage, water is toxic, right? And she says, Well, I don't know what toxic means. I don't toxin I don't know what has contaminants in it. Fair Sure, Yes. If you put a fan on wet materials with contaminants in it, it's going to spread those materials, those contaminants into the air, right?

Well, yes, I never thought of it that way. Now that we've thought about it that way, will you ever again put a fan on the sewage leak? No, maybe not. Well, let me ask you this. Now that we've had this conversation, would you spend even one night in any of those apartments where you have put a fan on sewage water? Because we talked about how circulating in the air and she said, no, I wouldn't. I mean, case closed, right? Like she's closed. And then in, you know, in in settlement negotiations in a few different cases, I've had them say in the agreement that they will reconsider their policies in light of the ICRC, and I can't force them to change. But, you know, when when I was against a military housing company, it privatized military housing company and I went to mediation and that was a big deal to my client.

She was bringing this case to make sure it never happened again. And they they put that into their agreement. They would reconsider their policy in light of the ICRC. Well, and I think this is how we get change. I mean, it is really the hard way to learn, but it's really how to get change made, because then you're changing the bar for everyone. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And we're making it a safer place, right? If I embarrass them for putting fans in sewage water, they're not going to do that again.

Or hopefully they're not. If they're saying they've gotten hit with a big price tag for that for for that conduct, they're not going to do it again. So the jury in my case, I can go back to my own case. So so I learned that the flasher, when we looked at Matty's Wall, we learned that the roofer had not slashed the chimney. And at the chimney you need to have a mason and a roofer flashing it, working together. And they weren't there at the same time. So the roofer then told the builder, Hey, it's not it's not flush properly because I wasn't here when the mason finished the builder and not the builder himself, but his foreman said, Don't worry about it, just make it look rigged on the outside.

Just do the best you can. It passed inspection because it was rigged on the outside to make it look like it was flashed. Oh, my God. Wasn't actually flashed. So we deposed the river in the river, acknowledged. Yes, I knew it was it flashed properly and I knew it would cause water intrusion. So, again, you know, think about that cross examination that, you know, that water damage. Isn't that right? You know, that mold can hurt people through. And you allowed this to be flashed improperly knowing that it was can result in water damage.

Right. Did you not just boys in this family and every other family who lives in that house? So I try to I try to just bring it down to the basics And look, it's good that I lost some brain matter loss, right? Because now I can. Now it's just like I'm dumber. So these are just. Pretty smart to me. These are just simple concepts. It's not hard. It's like so. So we got the builder and the roofer poisoning my family. So there's that. And not intentionally. It's not like they said, we're going to go poison a family today.

But that's what happens when you cut these corners and they need to learn that you don't. You don't mess around with the brakes of a car, for example. Right. This is it's bad. Import bad and. And it's not important. This is the air you breathe. It's kind of when you expect them. To acknowledge, you know, Do you have do you agree that the landlord should provide a home sit would say here Yes. You agree that a builder should provide a home with safe air? Yes. Do you agree that each factory install a system that provides safe air?

Yes. Do you agree that air is that is a good intended for human consumption? Yes. That, by the way, is an exception to these mold exclusions and insurance policies so we can get the defendants to agree that, yes, conditioned air is a good product intended for human consumption and therefore it's covered by the defendants insurance policy. I guess that is I had but I had a construction expert come over and his name was Stewart Norley, and he was a friend of a friend. And he took one look at Matty's Wall and he said, Oh, this is not just a leak.

You have an HVAC problem. And he explained to me that in new houses we're building these houses with spray foam, and ours had open cell spray film that was full of mold. Say that again. You're building houses with spray foam. Uh huh. So ours had open cell spray foam. Now, the problem with that is these houses are very, very, very tight and they don't breathe. So one, if there's water damage, you don't know it's there. But also if the system itself is not doesn't have super dehumidification or you don't have a whole home dehumidifier as part of the system, then it's creating moisture in the walls that that can't dry out because it's so tight.

So what we have in this country right now is an epidemic of toxic houses because we are building them so tight to be energy efficient. And that's great, but we're not properly installing the right HVAC systems and as a result we're creating toxic houses where when you're inside the house isn't breathing. And so all you're getting is the toxic air. Now, let's think about coding. We sent people to go quarantine at home and they weren't outside. They weren't going to buildings where there are big, big systems where they're pumping air through all the time.

There aren't those kinds of regulations that monitor indoor air quality at home. So no wonder we saw all of the mental health issues during COVID. We saw, you know, more chat, more, more abuse at home. We saw so much. And I'm not saying it's all because of toxic air, but don't you think some of it might be. Absolutely so I would draw a couple of conclusions based on what you what you're saying. And it's back to the slashing not being done properly. I think anybody building a home needs to get an additional inspector to be inspecting it every step of the way so that even if the

HVAC, Building Failures, and Toxic Homes 33:08

you know, the contractors that the builders working with are doing their best to try to not cut corners and do things right, if they're making mistakes, that it gets caught because every time I tell the patient to do that, they think they're building their perfect mold free home. There are major things that happen the inspectors fix and that flashing being done improperly was part of my home mold story by I ended up learning about mold so deeply is because I had a chimney flashing that wasn't done properly.

So there were leaks that were happening that were enough to cause mold, but not so that I could see it through the paint. Yeah. Was it at your house. By was It was a house I was renting. Yeah. So I. Yeah, I mean that's, that's the exact same situation that it's a chimney. Right. And then it's gathering the wall and what we need when I had a great lawyer, I had two fabulous lawyers, Calvin Theresa's and Bob McKee, and they're great lawyers and they did a great job of explaining to the jury why it was invisible.

Because how could there be? I made a I made a diagram of the floor plan, and I had all the mold results all over. It was bright red. The hold it, millions of spores of aspergillus. Millions of spores. It's Jackie Batters. I mean, she's covering our belongings in our living space. We found eight feet of Tommy in the in the kitchen right next to. My gosh, that's enough. Eight to wipe out a whole city. Oh, yeah. I mean, it would, but it's hard to get a jury to understand. It was invisible us. We lived there for eight years before we found it.

Oh, my gosh. So? So we need to know. So it's like what you're saying. It was. It was just bad enough. We never are. We also had to explain to the jury why we didn't pick up on that humidity problem. So our age back basically when our age expert who's wonderful, is named Les Wallace, I feel I want to tell you all the people's names because our build your team, right. Find your helpers. When when bad things happen, we look for the helpers. And we had so many helpers for our family. And now I have the privilege of turning around and being that helper for others.

But less well looked at are each back and he's one of our helpers. And he he said this was never set to dehumidifier. There was a piece missing in the unit. You're supposed to pull it out in order for the notification, but. Oh my gosh. It's kind of like a toy, you know? And I actually I was thinking about the stakes. I did this today. I got a toy for one of my kids and I got to pull the thing out to have the battery worked. And there was a jumper that you had to just pull out. And the piece was still there ten years later.

Oh, my gosh. So it had never dehumidifier. So you had a dehumidifier that you paid for in your house that was actually dehumidifier and protect you. So that mold was less likely to grow and it never got started. And and the the. Mr. Woods and I by the way, I love that I did a jury trial because I can tell you all the details. And had it been a confidential settlement, I could. Right. But I can tell you everything. So Mr. Woods takes the stand and he agrees that the system was supposed to dehumidifier that they had, that the builders had chosen.

And I don't use the builder's name because he's a good guy and he didn't want to poison my family. Okay, But Mr. Woods Well, Test testified that the system was built with it was supposed to have a dehumidification feature precisely because it was a spray foam house and it was so tight. You have to humidify it. And on the wood's website and you can now there's so much information about mold and indoor air quality is such a big deal now that it's perfect for these cases because we took his own website and we explained to the jury with his website why you shouldn't have a system that's oversize, because if it's oversize, it's short cycling and building excess humidity, which leads to mold.

He's using those exact words mold, short circuits leads to mold. Right. You know, similarly, you have to have an x ray dehumidification system if it's a spray foam house and that, you know, it says that also in his website. So he agreed with all of that. And then we showed that it was never done. So it was incredibly satisfying to go to court and to prove the case and to show the jury and have the jury believe. And I know that doesn't always happen. I know that you never know what you're going to get.

And you can go either way. And I understand that. But man, to have that result was so such a validation. Because Dr. Shippy, I'm sure you hear all the time about the gaslighting, right? The this their whole defense in this case was basically that Christine, about their read too much on the Internet and like made it nasally. Oh yeah I mean they said they hired a Princeton Ph.D. Evan and I met at Princeton. Okay. We're like, we love the school. I have to believe it was intentional that they hired a Ph.D.

from Princeton as the expert to look at our daughter and say that our parenting of her was unconscionable because we didn't get her into a psych ward. I mean. Oh, wow. Where she gets to her deposition and she said in her deposition that we're great parents. So, you know, but but it was so that was their defense. And so it was so validating to have the jury like, look at me and believe me and award mental anguish damages for me and see what this was like for me as a mom to be sick and taking care of sick kids and trying to work at the same time, you know?

And of course, their defense is also that I'm just a working mom who was just stressed during, you know, and the jury saw like, no, I was doing the best I could, but this just put me over the edge because my brain was fire. Wow. Yeah, that's. That's a lot to a lot to process. But that's not just me. That's my clients. Right? And you know, all your patients, many of your patients. So CNBC did a little story in our family when we filed our lawsuit in the beginning, and I just created my little law firm and it linked to my website.

And my website, by the way, had been my my 13 year old son built my website and it was nothing fancy, was like barely on the internet. And but the CNBC article link to my website and I got a thousand calls two weeks. And one of those calls was Hawaii. And they said, I've been poisoned. Can you help? And I flew over to Hawaii and I met these women who said that the Navy had had a huge oil spill, jet fuel spill that had contaminated their water source for 93,000 people. And the Navy knew that there was gas in the water and told people there is no indication it's not safe.

And they let people use the water. And they became very sick. And at the time the Navy was apologizing. I'm sorry, we're going to make this right. And the Navy was saying it's going to be in and out of your body in 48 hours.

Helping Families, Resources, and Legal Strategy 41:28

Don't worry. It's just like food poisoning. You're going to be fine. There's no facts. And I was just like, I don't think that's right. And even if it were right, like my own story, these are people who have lost their ill. I mean, they were poisoned by the homes they were living. Right. That is that is worth something and that's worth fighting for. You don't you don't get to let people drink water, you know, is contaminated. Right. That's not that can't be the world we live in. So I took one case and then another case and then another case, and people started talking and sharing my name and I now represent 5300 people against the United States of America in one of, I think, one of the most important toxic exposure cases really in history, because we're not aware of any other case against the United States where the United States has actually admitted the negligence.

They said in court that they're not contesting negligence. So now it's just a question of of how much our clients will recover. Well, that's why it's so disturbing. Just like, you know, it just boils down to individual accountability. And most of these stories, like, did the person actually activate the dehumidifier? Did the flashing get done? Did people get warm, warned that there's a problem that's like is making these decisions needs to realize that they're impacting other lives in such a profound way.

And it's the air we breathe and the water we drink. I mean, it's an air and water. I mean, our our brain is 73% water. So if the water is toxic, our brains can be toxic. So there's so many different ways we could go here. But for. Our listeners, any words of wisdom, like just anything that will help them through their next steps? Hang on, There is light at the end of the tunnel. And my prayer for you, if you're listening and you're in a dark place, is that you would prioritize getting well, that you would put your own oxygen mask on first if you're a mom.

And that's hard to do because you're worried about your kids who may be sick, too. But you have to put your oxygen mask on and you have to focus on getting well at whatever cost. If it's moving out, if it's moving into a tent, if it's moving to your mom's house, you don't even like, okay, do what you can to get out and get well. And my prayer for you is that a year from now, you will be well enough to turn around and help the next person. You know how to start a business doing this or anything like that.

Just think that you would be the person that your friends would call when they have a friend who has a friend who's going through this that you would be well enough to help other people. That's my prayer for you. That's beautiful. And that's really what this summit is all about, is opening the light where where different people need it to find the reserves inside them to take the next steps that they need to get well. So that's so beautifully said with such such warmth and possibility. And it's possible, right?

It's possible. It's really the only possibility. Like you just have to keep going until until you get there. When? One day at a time. And sometimes sometimes it will be one hour at a time. Exactly. All you all you have to do, if you're in the dark place, all you have to do is breathe and make it through the next hour. And if you need to call my my office and, have us tell you that you either make it through the next hour, we will do that. But, you know, find find your helpers, find your people. And it may be a lot of different people along the way who will be helpful to you and again, your find your helpers, but then turn around and you be the helper for the next person.

And I have confidence that you will. Yeah. Let's go back just a minute before we conclude. And in a data collection process, because sometimes that really is it's such a decision between do I spend the money, I'm getting the evidence, or do I just spend the money on getting well and and, you know, getting to the other side of this. So you know, it's always a financial tradeoff. But if people are going to quit some you know, if they have a a new home that they think, you know, they may have a case against or a situation where they might actually want to build the case, it would be great to spend a few minutes on what that evidence might be.

And really. Yes, what. Not to miss there. So it's always going to be worth hiring a certified mold inspector because you can't do anything without that. At least my world and any there are very few lawyers in this country who who do this. And by the way, if you're listening to this and you are a lawyer and you want to do this, please call me because I will give you all my resources. There's no competition here. I want you to succeed and I will give you everything that I have and I will send you cases.

So please call me if you're a lawyer. But every lawyer I know needs to see a certified mold inspection. So just do it. Just spend that. It will also help you because you'll know what you were exposed to. And I believe a doctor should be able to tell me. I know there are different schools of thought, but I do believe that the treatment may be different depending on what you were exposed to and what the levels were and whether it was sticky bathrooms or Aspergillus or there are different symptoms for each also to look for.

So I think it's important from a health perspective and a legal perspective to get the certified mold inspection and to get the tests. And also most houses have more than one problem. So say you've had a little roof leak that you didn't know that you needed to rip out all the wallboard and you may have just painted over it and you're like, Oh, okay. It was probably that leak I didn't handle properly. It's so worth it to make sure that there aren't some other hidden problems. Yes, Yes. And especially if you're in the midst of trying to figure out what's wrong with your house.

Although be careful, because I also tell people, like sometimes you might not want to know every problem with the house if you're going to sell it, for example. So just there are different considerations that we can talk about. But certified mold inspection, if you're considering any kind of legal action, is is the first thing. But the other thing I would say is a picture tells a thousand words. And I want you, if you're listening to this, to look up at CNBC story, just Google CNBC mold and you'll see a picture of my big kid holding my little kid and their doctor will max off an office in Austin after they've done a million blood draws.

And it's just it tells a thousand words, right? Of what this time was like in our family. I also have a picture of a tent that was where my son slept because we connected to an air purifier. We built a bed for him. And look, I don't know if that worked or not, but it shows how desperate we were to get our kid health right. This was not just like a roof leak that we had to move for. This was worried about our very lives. And I really I had a tumor and I thought I was going to die. So pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures.

I mean, I have a client, that client I was talking about earlier with sewage. I had a picture of the dumpster with the unicorn in the back of the dumpster. Oh, my gosh. Right. I mean, the toy that the unicorn, the dollhouse, it just tells a thousand words. This was not this is not just like getting rid of your stuff for fun because you want your stuff. It's like this is these are my kids Lego kingdoms, right? That they spent years, years collecting and building into universes. And could we clean them? I don't know.

Maybe I could have taken them out and cleaned them. I don't know. Like I'm learning now. Maybe there were ways to clean it, but when you're that defeats the universe not to keep there their kingdoms. So mold inspection pitchers, that's that's the best.

Hope, Prevention, and How to Contact Just Well 50:48

And when you get an A timeline, create a timeline of who says what to whom, when. But I I've been talking to other lawyers wanting them to do these cases. And some of them say, oh, God, the mold the client the mold client will come to your office with like boxes and boxes of stuff. So just be also thoughtful about not overwhelming the lawyer because you show up with boxes and boxes. They're just going to be like eyes glazed over. Most lawyers are used to doing very basic car accidents where you have like the police report and an x ray, you know, And if you show up with boxes and boxes and boxes, it's it's not going to go well at a timeline, mold inspection, some very compelling pictures.

And you're going to in good shape. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for taking this on. I know you're plowing new ground because it really has been pretty futile to to hold people accountable that need to be and and that you're also doing the teaching of how to help them to know how to do their jobs better and to keep people safe and really feel good about what they're what they're providing. So, so grateful for this work that you're doing and really building a network of people who can help. And that's what you're doing.

So, you know, we just need to do more of it together and more intersections and ways that I can help you and what in what you do. And really, for anyone listening, I mean, we we want to be a resource. We want to help. So if you're really anywhere in the country, we will take the call. We will continue in the right direction and, you know, we're committed to building building a network of lawyers who can help around the country and work with the doctors like you to get people the holistic care that they need because they need financial recovery so that they can spend it on the good medical care they need.

Right. This these treatments aren't cheap. These wonderful doctors are not cheap and they need financial recovery so that they can get well. And that's that's really what we want and what they want. And so I tell every client, your job, your number one job, is to go forth and get well. My job is to try to get you financial recovery so that you can go forth and get well. But it is never futile. It is never futile to pursue it because I can't guarantee that I'm going to get you any outcome, but I can get you resources, we can listen, we can point you in the right direction and man, I'm going to leave it all on the field trying to get you financial recovery.

And in almost every case, it's going to be something. I haven't lost a case yet. I mean, I've settled cases for less than I wanted to, but I haven't lost a case. That's amazing. So, you know, we're going to get you something. It's not going to be it's not going $1,000,000. It's not even my case like it. It's not going be $1,000,000, but it's going to be something and it's going to be something that you can contribute to towards your health and your kids health. So I don't think that being pursuing you know what?

This is actually a story that I wanted to tell me, and I'm in my jury trial. Opposing counsel at the closing said when bad things happen, we should just be thankful for what we have. And the Baehr's have lots of resources here. Oh, my God. And that really hit me because we have tremendous gratitude for the people who helped our family and for what we do have. And we spend a lot of those resources on this case, not for us, but for others. And we can have gratitude and pursue the justice at once. And a friend told me actually, that gratitude and justice equals shalom.

And so that's what I want for all of us, that we can go forth and pursue health and justice and gratitude all at once for ultimate shalom. That's beautiful. And that's really true. We can hold all of those things together. And then the you know, the real thing is like, let's be doing prevention. Let's let's keep people from getting sick in the first place. So I think your work is really important for for doing that piece of the puzzle as well, because as these vendors learn and providers learned how to have safe buildings, we'll have less people getting sick.

And it really is an epidemic. Yeah. So how do people find you? Just Well, the firm is called Just Well, my name is Kristina Baehr and the website is Well.Law. Well.law. And you can put your info in there and and someone will give you a call back. We've been inundated with calls this week, and so it might not be immediate, but you will absolutely get a callback in short order. So thanks for listening. I'm so glad to be with you and I look forward to continuing the conversation in future years. Me too.

We got a lot of work to do together. Thank you so much.