Toyota Employees Remain Stripped Of Treatment After Toxic Mold Exposure

It would appear that Toyota of Poway and their workers compensation insurance company Corvel, are attempting to Starve out the injured employees of Toyota of Poway. The Toyota workers, who were harmed by contaminants in the Poway, California car dealership have been begging for medical treatment after becoming ill with sinus infections, headaches memory loss and a whole host of other symptoms that have disabled their ability to work. Incomplete reports that downplay the amount of mold and other contaminants found in the water damaged car dealership were submitted by air quality investigators who were hired by Troy Duhon and Vincent Castro. The environmental investigation of the dealership was arranged by Arent Fox, LLP. The firm's specialty is representing employers and insurers when workers claim injury from an insured business.

Much of building where the used car staff worked was scheduled for an abatement to remove the water damaged building materials even before the employees began complaining of ill health. Oddly, the environmental investigation of the building did not include investigating these areas already known by the owners as being in need of repair Only areas thought to be in good condition were mentioned in the report that resulted from the partial investigation.

This report was then used to calm employees concerns about the potential for ill health from the building. On March 10, 2010 Vincent Castro distributed a letter to the worried employees that stated, "Areas accessed are indicative of what is considered normal indoor fungal ecology." The Toyota dealership owners, Troy Duhon and Vincent Castro, have also hired a local law firm, Fischer and Phillips, LLC.

Responding to the Toyota former manager of used car sales, Tim Hack, speaking on behalf of the injured workers at a Poway City Council meeting August 17, 2010 Christine Yung of Fischer and Phillips filed a complaint with the San Diego superior court attempting to have the courts issue a three year restraining order against Hack. The courts denied the request. Attorney Yusi was unable to convince the court that Hack's speaking at a public forum of the dilapidated condition of the Toyota dealership presented a physical threat to Vincent Castro.

In his defense, Hack presented several letters from Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Department of Labor and CA OHSA showing several government officials are concerned for the safety of the Toyota of Poway employees and the claims handling practices of Toyota of Poway, Corvel and their legal representatives. Although the City of Poway has taken no action to assist the injured workers, they did award Troy Duhon and Vincent Castro Three Million of taxpayer funds to build a new building.

Other reports of investigation performed March 30, 2010, were not provided by Corvel to the physicians they hired to evaluate the injured workers for determination if they qualified for benefits. These reports make determinations that, "Dirt and mold growth are visible in all areas where water has poured through to the spaces" "the airborne total mold spore concentrations in the Used Car Office area of building are high" "The wooden frame at the waiting room, west side at the entry way, is rotted and needs replacing." "Surface water simply flows into the enclosed space." and "The caulking system at the foot plate at the Manager’s Office has failed and water intrudes into the space from the surface"

The injured workers of Toyota of Poway are frustrated at the lack of care they are receiving and feel that the environmental report stating the problems of the filthy building have been pushed aside because it clearly shows that Corvel and Toyota of Poway are responsible for their injuries and claims. http://moldtruth.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/bryson-report-done-for-corvel.pdf

In November, Mr Hack spoke before the CA Insurance Fraud Assessment Committee of Toyota Of Poway's and Corvel's tactics used to avoid financial responsibility to the injured workers at Toyota of Poway. Mr Hack tells a story that is now all to common. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC08-MrkPqU&NR=1

Mr Hack said he was instructed to pick a Doctor from a list on Corvels website. Mr Hack thought that was easy as he picked a Doctor close to his house and scheduled an appt for April 5, 2010. When Mr Hack arrived he was informed that his appointment with Dr Tom Klein had been cancelled, Mr Hack then tried to reschedule his appointment and was told that Dr klien no longer treated workers compensation injuries. The California workers compensation system has seen a decline of over fifty percent of treating Doctors in the past few years. Mr Hack said he contacted Corvel and spoke to Mr O'Reagain who was handling his claim. Mr Hack informed Corvels representative that he was having real bad headaches and needed treatment that day. Mr Hack was told to go to the urgent care a few floors up and would be given treatment their.

Mr Hack was seen by a Physicians assistant Eugene Cordova and was told he could not prescribe anything for Mr Hacks injuries until Corvel had done a report on the building. Mr Hack said he had shown Mr. Cordova pictures as well as a report the workers had done on the building which showed extensive mold growth. Mr Hack was shocked that Mr Cordova had written on his report for him to go back to work after sharing with him the many medical problems he was having after working at Toyota of Poway. While Mr Hack was offered no treatment, the status report he was given listed refer to Dr Munday. Mr Hack would realize later that the report he was told would have to take place before treatment had already been performed on the dealership and was dated March 30, 2010 and had lab results dated April 1, 2010

Mr Hack was then told by Corvel to pick another Doctor from their website. Mr Hack then picked a Dr Fung which was also close to his house. Mr. Hack was then informed that Dr Fung was not taking on any new patients. Mr Hack was told that he could see a Dr Stephen Munday. Mr Hack believes that he was steered to Dr Munday as Mr Cordova had never left the treatment room while seeing Mr Hack and already had Dr Mundays info which Mr Hack believes was provided by Corvel. One must ask how did Mr Cordova know that Dr Munday would see the injured workers from Toyota Of Poway.

Mr Hack said he was shocked but not surprised when he read his medical review done by Dr Munday Titled Comprehensive AOE/COE Toxicology Evaluation in which he injects doubt into the mold report by not knowing if the report was done with destructive or non destructive sampling( opening of walls) Mr Hack found this odd as the report clearly states that the tests on the building were non destructive. Mr Hack thought a simple call to Mold Inspection Sciences which performed the Air testing and building inspection would have cleared this up. The inspection report can be viewed at http://moldtruth.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/mold-inspection-report_toyota-of-poway.pdf Mr Hack also learned later that Dr Munday was hired by The California State Board of Equalization as a medical consultant in regard to the mold issues they had in their building. The California State Board of Equalizations website contains mold reports reviewed By Dr Munday that show he has reviewed and reported on such documents. This document http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/pdf/report10_020608.pdf on the State site cleary shows that prior to seeing the employees of Toyota Of Poway Dr Munday was aware of the health hazards for employees after being exposed to molds. Dr Munday has also conducted training in the field of Mold "Those Pesky Molds: Mold and VOCs (Volatile organic compounds) in Indoor Air". Stephen Munday

Mr Hack was notified by Toyota of Poway July 17, 2010 that the buildings at Toyota of Poway were cleared by inspectors as of April 15, 2010. The CA OHSA update on the buildings shows that as of September 2010 the dealership was still in the process of mold removal, and now removing carpets in the dealership and treating those ares with an anti-microbial spray, and that the building would use 3 filtered fan units within the space that will run continuously until final air sampling can confirm a normal fungal environment. The reports performed by Mold Inspection Sciences and by Andrew Bryson Certified Industrial hygienist both recommend cleaning and or removal of carpets in the building. Both reports also expressed concerns about the roof needing repairs or being replaced. The Owners of Toyota of Poway were provided a copy of the Mold Inspection report on March 19, 2010 which clearly shows the building was in need of major renovation.



Toyota of Poway Owner Troy Duhon and President of Premiere Automotive talks about the value of an employee going thru old dirty TOXIC files after Katrina http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te9MNmct160



With Toyota of America recalling over Ten Million Vehicles this year, And being forced by the government to stop selling some of its most popular models for a time. I would think they would demand more from their franchises and insure that the people that sell their vehicles are treated fairly and honestly.