Bobby in Tomball, Texas

I have been renting for 5 year. When hurricane IKE came in to Texas we were without power for days and after that we started seeing water stains everywhere and at the back door the carpet was soaking wet. The landlord did little to nothing to fix these problems so every time it rained the carpet would get wet and then there would be mold.

The door threshold was rotted so badly that for the last two year we had an infestation of roly polys or Pill bugs in the house. I’m talking 200 plus. I had to fix this problem.

Then, in the first of March of 2011, I get a call from my wife. She said the downstairs toilet is overflowing. It’s like someone turned the faucet on – there is water everywhere. Just about that time I was pulling in the driveway. Cindy runs out to get me – “You need to see this the toilet is gushing water everywhere! It’s in the bathtub and in the hall, the girls room, and the living room!” I got the shop vac out and started to clean up. Cindy called the landlord. They got there in about 10 minutes to see the damage. Soon after they insinuated that this was our fault . They called the city services to come out and check the sewer lines.

The next day the landlord had a cleaning service out to clean up the mess. They push and piled the furniture out of the way, they cut the carpet back, big fans and dehumidifiers ran for days. The girls are now up stairs sleeping in the TV room because the downstairs is a wreck. NOW the landlord is going to fixing the damage from hurricane IKE. We are getting the whole inside of the house painted to hide the water stains from IKE and new carpet all the old molded carpet is now gone. And yes we are living in this mess while this is going on. This was no quick fix – a week to get the house dried out plus weeks to get the painting done and over a week to get the carpet in. Our landlord is getting money from the insurance company but he pick the cheapest and most unreliable people to do the work. The work was taking forever and I threatened to withhold the rent money.

The thing that caused the downstairs flooding was the downstairs toilet. They replace the downstairs and upstairs toilets (1980 models).

Then, on Wednesday March 23, Cindy and Ashley went to the Doctor. On that day they both were felling bad and they both had upper respiratory problems .Cindy went in with Ashley but Cindy wouldn’t see the doctor – she said we didn’t have the money.

Now it is March 27. This is the worst day of my F-ing life. I’m working on my computer in the garage because the house is still a wreck it is late and I am going to bed now. I think it is around 3am or so and I’m going in to the bedroom. My Cindy is on the bed and she is not breathing. She is cold. I gave her mouth to mouth, I begged, I pleaded, I called 911 when they got there they call her DOA in less than a minute.

Cindy was a homemaker she loved doing that. Cindy had to stay in that house while they painted and pulled the carpet. All that dust and that mold – she lived in that environment for 30 days and now she is dead.

On June 15, 2011 I got the autopsy report back. The first thing it showed is Sepsis, the second is Pneumonia.

Questions:

Is it possible my wife died because of the work being done on the house?
There was no offer from the landlord to leave while the house was under construction. Is the landlord liable for anything here? I live in Texas and I need guidance. Thank you, Bobby.