A mushroom growing out of a dorm room wall on the fourth floor of Lawrence Tower. Credit: Courtesy of Kyra Avarello
From a mushroom peeking out of the wall to a lawsuit with over 30 plaintiffs, the controversy surrounding Lawrence Tower’s mold issue continues to grow.
On Jan. 13, Just Well Law and Bressman Law filed two concurrent lawsuits in the Ohio Court of Claims and the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas against Ohio State, claiming “negligence, implied warranty of habitability, nuisance and fraud,” according to a press release from the two firms. The lawsuit — Jack Barga, et al. v. The Ohio State University — represents students who were living in Lawrence Tower for the fall 2024 semester and their parents, said Jedidiah I. Bressman, an attorney at Bressman Law.
This lawsuit has been in the works since Nov. 22, 2024, after initial reports of the mold began to circulate, Bressman said.
“It turned from one small water leak for the affected students, and then it turned into, ‘Well, we’ve got to shut down the building,’” Bressman said.
According to the court complaint, the mold problem has sprawled since the university acquired Lawrence Tower — which was previously a Holiday Inn property — in 2009.
In a 2009 video from The Lantern, an Ohio State employee is seen explaining how remodelers were trying to cram two years’ worth of renovation work into six months. According to the Franklin County Auditor’s website referenced in the complaint, however, the renovations might have only taken two months.
University spokesperson Dave Isaacs said the university “does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
In November 2024, Isaacs said only 40 students would have to temporarily vacate the dorm building due to a water leak causing a mold issue, according to previous Lantern reporting. The issue, however, continued to swell as more mold discoveries were uncovered in dorm rooms that were not adjacent to the original water leak.
Per previous Lantern reporting, all Lawrence Tower residents were eventually relocated prior to the 2025 spring semester. These students were given the option to move to other on-campus housing, find master-leased off-campus locations or cancel their housing contracts.
In the court complaint, Just Well Law attorney Kristina S. Baehr and Bressman said the university “guarantees in its student handbook that its students have the right to sleep, read and study, free from undue interference, unreasonable noise and other distractions.”
The court complaint alleges the university did not keep its promise to the students living in Lawrence Tower.
“Ohio State first blamed the mold infestation on a singular plumbing leak and said that only 40 rooms were affected,” the court complaint states. “Then, the University began to move students out of the building, claiming Lawrence Tower was safe but were taking precautions. No-harm, no-foul was the attitude. But the University fails to acknowledge students were knowingly placed in an unhealthy environment and too many of them got sick.”
Baehr said in a text message she has a personal history with toxins in living environments, which is part of the reason she founded Just Well Law. Her family has first-hand experience with toxic mold exposure, and she has since “committed to helping other families” fight against similarly unsafe conditions.
“Mold causes cognitive challenges,” Baehr said. “Imagine coming into freshman year and not understanding why you can’t seem to grasp the materials? That’s a familiar feeling for me, and it is awful. It is not what our best and brightest need.”
Bressman, also an Ohio State Moritz College of Law alum, said this litigation has been an “eye-opening experience” for him as a graduate, he said.
“You never think that something like this is going to happen in your own backyard,” Bressman said. “You never think that this type of incident is going to happen at Ohio State. This is what happens at other universities, at other places.”
Baehr said though this lawsuit is against the university, the ultimate goal is to make Ohio State a safer environment for future students.
“We believe that this lawsuit will make the university — and all universities — more safe,” Baehr said.
Students can stand for health and property claims, and their parents can stand for property claims, according to the court complaint. For the plaintiffs, economic damages start at $1,000 per person and cannot exceed $5,000 per person.
Parents and students in Lawrence Tower also paid for Rate 1 housing, which is priced at $5,045 per semester, according to the Office of Student Life’s Housing and Residence Education webpage.
Bressman and Baehr said they believe this lawsuit should set a precedent for other universities when it comes to keeping the people who depend on them safe.
“We want to send a message to universities and to everyone that they need to provide a safe living environment for the people that they’re supposed to be caring for,” Bressman said.
