Terminix Fined 10 Million

MorningLover · ‎10-04-2015

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Updated: Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Pest control company Terminix has been fined $10 million after their workers sprayed below a Delaware family’s Virgins Island condo with the illegal pesticide methyl bromide.

Steve Esmond, his wife Theresa Devine, and their teenage sons Ryan and Sean had rented the home for their stay on St. John last March, but they all fell sick shortly after arriving.

The family was later began having seizures and were all transported back to the mainland, where they were put into medically induced comas.

DELAWARE FAMILY POISONED BY PESTICIDE WON'T RECOVER: OFFICIALS

Dr. Theresa Devine, a dentist, has been able to recover the most, though a family lawyer told CNN last year that her husband and lacrosse player sons were in a “torture chamber.”

Exposure to the gas can cause nervous system and respiratory damage.

Steve Esmond, the head of a Delaware private middle school, was reportedly suffering from severe tremors and struggling to speak.

A more recent update on their condition was not immediately available early Wednesday morning.

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It was later discovered that the unit below their condo had been sprayed with methyl bromide, an odorless gas which has been banned for residential use for more than 30 years.

In an agreement announced by the Justice Department on Tuesday, Terminix said that it has stopped using the toxic chemical in the United States except for as part of a government contract in Baltimore.

The $10 million fine, agreed upon by the feds, includes paying for the Environmental Protection Agency cleanup of the St. Thomas condo and a community service project.

The company is also expected to resolve the Esmond family’s medical bills through civil proceedings as part of its probation.

Justice Department officials said in their statement that the fumigation was for the Powder Post Beetle, and that customers are generally told not to enter a building for up to three days after a treatment.

Tape is normally put up to avoid the poisonous gas spreading from one unit to the other, though the methyl bromide was expected to have migrated into the Esmonds’ apartment.

bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

OMGosh, that's terrible.

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

Scary stuff...

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

I read about powder post beetle extermination last summer. I suspected that's what I was seeing on the railings on the walkway into my apartment. Tthere doesn't seem to be much that's safe to kill them.

I'm thinking my landlord may need to demolish the rail and rebuilt with new lumber; could even turn out to be cheaper for him to do that.

Cookie2025 · ‎03-10-2010

@MorningLover wrote:
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Pest control company Terminix has been fined $10 million after their workers sprayed below a Delaware family’s Virgins Island condo with the illegal pesticide methyl bromide.

Steve Esmond, his wife Theresa Devine, and their teenage sons Ryan and Sean had rented the home for their stay on St. John last March, but they all fell sick shortly after arriving.

The family was later began having seizures and were all transported back to the mainland, where they were put into medically induced comas.

DELAWARE FAMILY POISONED BY PESTICIDE WON'T RECOVER: OFFICIALS
Dr. Theresa Devine, a dentist, has been able to recover the most, though a family lawyer told CNN last year that her husband and lacrosse player sons were in a “torture chamber.”

Exposure to the gas can cause nervous system and respiratory damage.

Steve Esmond, the head of a Delaware private middle school, was reportedly suffering from severe tremors and struggling to speak.
A more recent update on their condition was not immediately available early Wednesday morning.
____________________________________________________
It was later discovered that the unit below their condo had been sprayed with methyl bromide, an odorless gas which has been banned for residential use for more than 30 years.

In an agreement announced by the Justice Department on Tuesday, Terminix said that it has stopped using the toxic chemical in the United States except for as part of a government contract in Baltimore.

The $10 million fine, agreed upon by the feds, includes paying for the Environmental Protection Agency cleanup of the St. Thomas condo and a community service project.

The company is also expected to resolve the Esmond family’s medical bills through civil proceedings as part of its probation.

Justice Department officials said in their statement that the fumigation was for the Powder Post Beetle, and that customers are generally told not to enter a building for up to three days after a treatment.

Tape is normally put up to avoid the poisonous gas spreading from one unit to the other, though the methyl bromide was expected to have migrated into the Esmonds’ apartment.

Why is Baltimore using this stuff ? With the Bone Heads in Baltimore usage should be terminated there as well.

I remember this story ... after Attorney's fee's that is a pitance for what this Family will suffer in the future.

Puzzle Piece · ‎06-29-2010

Sad to hear. Sorry for the family.

Never Forget the Native American Indian Holocaust

missy1 · ‎03-10-2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3148020/Father-two-teenage-sons-remain-paralyzed-16-year-old...

More info. sad.I have never heard of this case.

HappyDaze · ‎06-13-2012

geez!!

January121 · ‎03-21-2010

This is so sad ... the family will be sick for the rest of their lives & the 10 million will not be enough to take care of them .... it's a perfect example of incompent people doing jobs that they are not qualified for .. Terminix needs to " cough up" a lot more money ... no amount of settlement money will give this family their lives back but, they need it for medical bills etc,.

Melania · ‎06-12-2013

Something is really wrong when Hulk Hogan gets over 120 million dollars for a secks tape and this family of 4 only get 10 million. Who may not survive or be so impaired neurologically and the care they require will surpass 10 mils. Disgusting.

This company is horrible. DH worked construction in college. He saw a Terminix driver empty his entire load into a new home foundation instead of going to each new home and spraying the proper amount as the contract stated. Then the lazy idiot took a nap for the rest of the day. I shudder at the negligence then and now with this disgrace of a company.