Federal Court Declines to Apply Prior Jury Verdict on Causation to Related Mold Claims

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — A federal judge has declined to bind landlord defendants to a jury’s findings on causation in a related office mold case, saying the prejudice that would result would outweigh any benefits.

Chief Judge Curtis V. Gomez of the U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands on May 8 denied summary judgment sought by a group of office workers suing a realty company and its principals for negligence, declining to apply collateral estoppel to the issues of defendants’ negligence and causation.

Barbara Richards and 32 fellow employees of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue …