Farmers Market Could Be Liable to Individual Claiming Mold Injury From Straw

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A New York trial court ruled June 27 that a buyer allegedly injured from mold in a straw bale could bring merchantability and other claims against a local farmer's market that sold the straw. Martin v. Chuck Hafner's Farmers Market, No. 03-2113 (N.Y. Sup., Onondaga Cty.).

David Martin complained that he suffered severe respiratory illness after inhaling Aspergillus fumigatus spores while unwrapping and spreading two bales of straw as landscape cover on his property.

Martin said his wife purchased the straw for home use from Chuck Hafner's Farmers Market on June 27, 2002. The bales were extensively …