Partner Clayton Goris, Of Counsel Mark Langdon, and Associate Alexis Hurd secured summary judgment for the client in a residential mold exposure lawsuit in Wake County, North Carolina, defeating all remaining claims approximately five weeks before trial. The ruling followed a coordinated litigation strategy that narrowed the case through successive motions to dismiss, compel discovery, impose sanctions, and ultimately obtain judgment as a matter of law.
The plaintiffs – a mother, her live-in boyfriend, and her two daughters – resided in a multi-bedroom apartment owned and managed by the client. After discovering suspected mold in an attached laundry room in July 2023, the residents were temporarily relocated to a hotel at the clients' expense while remediation took place. They returned to the apartment the following month but disputed the adequacy of the remediation and raised concerns about several additional conditions in the unit.
In December 2023, the plaintiffs filed suit asserting eleven causes of action including negligence, breach of contract, retaliatory eviction, breach of the implied warranty of habitability, breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, emotional distress, unfair and deceptive trade practices, constructive eviction, conversion, and violation of North Carolina's summary ejectment statute. Their complaint was accompanied by a $2 million settlement demand based on alleged physical injuries from mold exposure, damaged personal property, disputed rent payments, and statutory treble damages.
The defense team first moved to narrow the case at the pleading stage. In October 2025, the court dismissed the plaintiffs' claims for conversion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violation of the summary ejectment statute. The team then focused on deficiencies in the plaintiff's evidence. After obtaining an order compelling discovery, the defense secured sanctions requiring the plaintiffs to pay $500 and abandon all claims involving physical injury.
With the case limited to alleged property losses and disputed rent, the defense moved for summary judgment. The team argued that the daughters and boyfriend were not parties to the lease, had paid no rent, and could not establish a contractual claim or an independent common-law duty concerning their allegedly damaged property.
The defense further established that the plaintiffs had not designated an expert who could testify about the presence type, potential harmfulness, or migration of mold within the apartment. The plaintiffs also failed to document their claimed personal property losses or produce evidence from which a jury could calculate any rent allegedly misapplied or owed. Nor had they designated a forensic accountant or other qualified expert to interpret the rental ledger.
The court agreed and entered summary judgment for the firm's clients on all remaining causes of action approximately five weeks before trial.
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