Seniors Win Suit to Prevent Fumigation of Homes

After sit-ins and pickets, seniors at the Huntington Landmark Adult Community won a major court victory Friday in their battle to prevent termite fumigation of their homes.

Superior Court Judge Michael H. Brenner ruled that the exterminator used by the community’s homeowners’ association must switch to heat treatment to kill the termites at the home of Fima Vanoff, 85. The company, Fume Works, had planned to tent the building and use sulfuryl fluoride gas, known by the trade name Vikane.

“It’s favorable, but I don’t want to see another tent in that community,” said Sandy Zajack, Vanoff’s daughter. “I’m happy for my mother, but I want to be happy for those other people.”

Residents and family members have protested for three months that Vikane leaves a residue that burns eyes and throats and causes breathing and other health problems.

A former resident, Audrey Wendt, sued Huntington Landmark and Fume Works after her unit was tented in 1995. On returning home, Wendt said, she suffered from watery eyes and a scratchy throat and eventually was hospitalized for cardiovascular problems. Wendt’s suit was settled out of court, and neighbors blame the fumigation for her declining health.

This year, about 75 residents signed an anti-fumigation petition and have staged sit-ins and protests at the 1,200-unit senior community.

In June, one resident drove through an entrance gate when a guard refused to open it because a television news cameraman was in his car.

Huntington Landmark officials have insisted Vikane is safe and has been used for years. On Friday, manager Sandy Meyer said, “We will be doing whatever the court advises us to do.” She wouldn’t comment further on the ruling.

She and Vanoff’s attorney, Thomas Brill of Newport Beach, said the judge’s ruling allows Vikane to be used on Vanoff’s building if the heat treatment doesn’t work.

The community treats 24 to 30 of its 259 buildings for termites every year. Meyer said 16 have been done so far this year, and eight remain on the list. “We’re almost there,” she said.

The two sides were in court Wednesday as Huntington Landmark management filed a petition to force Vanoff and her neighbors in the five-unit building out during the fumigation, scheduled for Monday. Management won such a ruling against another resident two weeks ago.

Brill presented testimony from two doctors, a toxicologist and an exterminator who “all said it’s probably not a good idea for this 85-year-old lady with health problems to have her home fumigated with Vikane.” He also argued that the fumigation violated the federal Fair Housing Act because it discriminated against those in poor health.

Judge Brenner settled that issue Friday by ordering the alternative treatment for Vanoff’s building. The ruling doesn’t affect any of the other buildings scheduled to be tented.