"Angels' Share" Mold Lawsuit Awards Determined; Checks Hitting The Mail

By Mike Perleberg Awards connected to mold caused by the Lawrenceburg Distillery are being distributed to nearby property owners. File photo. (Greendale, Ind.) - Checks – some of them worth thousands of dollars – will soon be hitting the mailboxes of mold-stricken properties in Lawrenceburg and Greendale. In 2005, a class-action lawsuit was filed against former distillery owner Pernod Ricard over the black mold that grows on homes and businesses near the distillery. The suit resulted in a $1.23 million judgement against the company in 2015. That money is now in the process of being distributed to property owners, says attorney F. Ronalds Walker with Indianapolis law firm Plews, Shadley, Racher & Braun, LLP. On June 17, a Dearborn County judge approved payments of $4,000 for affected property owners in a designated high impact zone surrounding the distillery. Those in a low impact zone are getting $500. You can view the impact zone map here. “We’re now doing our due diligence,” says Walker. According to the court’s order to distribute funds, property owners receiving more than $600, mainly those in the high impact zone, will be required to complete and return a W-9 tax form before their check is sent. About 2,000 properties were eligible for a share of the settlement funds. Roughly 1,100 property owners submitted claim forms prior to the April 30 deadline, Walker says. Claimants had to own a property for all or a portion of the time period between December 21, 2001 and September 12, 2009. Awards are proportionate to the amount of time the property was owned by a person in that window. William Klepper, the local property owner who was the first to bring the lawsuit and its class representative, will receive a special $10,000 award. The Dearborn Community Foundation is also being awarded $10,000. The attorneys will receive $61,722.82. The mold is easily spotted on homes and businesses surrounding the distillery. It is caused by alcohol that evaporates from barrels of whiskey stored at the distillery, sometimes called “the angels’ share”. The mold does not pose a health risk to humans, Walker has said previously. RELATED STORIES: File A Claim For “Angels’ Share” Mold? Your Check Could Be Coming Mold To Gold: Distillery Lawsuit Settlement Money Up For Grabs