{"id":469779,"date":"2026-10-18T15:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/469779\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:24:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:24:51","slug":"fort-worth-area-family-wins-21-6m-after-sewer-gas-mold-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/469779\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth-area family wins $21.6M after sewer gas, mold lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The verdict came Tuesday after about two hours of deliberations in the case brought by Ronny and Mandy McCoy against NAE Enterprises, which does business as NAE Contracting, according to a news release from the family’s attorneys at Just Well Law. The trial began Oct. 5 in the 67th District Court of Tarrant County.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The jury awarded more than $21.6 million, including $10 million in exemplary damages against NAE. The firm’s release said the jury found knowing and intentional violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, along with breach of implied warranty, negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, and gross negligence. The gross-negligence finding and exemplary award were unanimous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the center of the case was a plumbing problem the McCoys say went unnoticed for years.<\/p>\n

According to their Sept. 28 amended petition, the family bought the home in November 2018 after raising concerns about a strong odor shortly before closing, but an NAE project manager dismissed the claims. The petition also alleged the home’s plumbing vents had been improperly terminated in the attic, allowing sewer gas to circulate through the house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family says the problem wasn’t discovered until June 2024, when a plumber found the vents ending in the attic and notified the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. The McCoys then evacuated the house.<\/p>\n

The petition also alleges moisture and mold problems throughout the home, including elevated mold levels found during a January 2025 inspection.<\/p>\n

One sample from the master closet showed 7 million spores per unit, according to the filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The home remains uninhabitable, according to the family’s attorneys, and the McCoys have been living in an RV on their property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The jury also assigned responsibility among multiple parties. NAE Enterprises received 77 percent of the responsibility, while Dauenhauer & Associates and Ricky Dauenhauer each received 10 percent, according to the family’s attorneys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case involved more than just the condition of the house. The jury was asked to consider whether the defendants’ conduct caused physical injuries, mental anguish, medical expenses, property damage and other losses to the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re grateful for the jury’s service. This has been a terrible experience for our family,” the McCoys said in a public statement. “We hope this verdict will encourage other families to be heard when they suspect construction defects and toxic conditions that threaten them in their homes.”<\/p>\n

Sabine Wakim, one of the family’s attorneys, added that the verdict should send a message to builders.<\/p>\n

“Every family who hires a builder is counting on the same thing: that their home will be built safely and to code,” she said. “The McCoys counted on NAE, and NAE did not deliver.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The verdict came Tuesday after about two hours of deliberations in the case brought by Ronny and Mandy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1836,1704,85744,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-469779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-chronnews","tag-chronstaff","tag-chrontexas","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}