SAN ANTONIO — A trial spanning nearly three weeks is coming to a close. An US Army lieutenant colonel and his wife are one of several families suing AETC II Privatized Housing, which owns Hunt Military Communities, a company that leased homes on JBSA Randolph and Laughlin Air Force Base.
The jury began their deliberations around 3:00pm after closing arguments were delivered Thursday afternoon.
Lawyers for Hunt argue the Vinales family delayed and denied maintenance from completing work on the home.
In what will be the first of many cases—US Army Lt. Col. Shane Vinales and his wife Becky sued Hunt Military Communities, claiming mold, and other structural issues like toilet leaks, cracks in the floor joints, holes in floors, occurred in their house and others like it on JBSA Randolph. The issues cascaded from there, including mold in their vents and on some of their belongings.
The jury was asked to consider if the defendant made a diligent effort to repair the conditions inside the home. They will also be asked if Hunt Military Communities failed to maintain all electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, AC inside the Vinales home.
Attorney Ryan Reed argues for the Vinales family that diligence means making more than band-aid fixes.
They claim mold, HVAC issues, toilet leaks and ant infestations persisted while the Vinales lived in the home from October 2017 until they moved out in May 2019. More than a hundred work orders were submitted for the various issues, including a full mold remediation towards the end of their lease.
“What we see is a cobbled-together protocol,” plaintiff attorney Ryan Reed told the jury that the mold remediation was unsuccessful since mold was still found on the family’s belongings when they moved.
Defense attorney Walter Boone stated that Hunt Military Communities made a diligent effort by following up with the family after work orders were completed. In those warm calls, Boone says the Vinales only responded to two emails sent.
“We fixed what the Vinales told us about, we tried to fix the problems, but Vinaleses delayed us or wouldn’t let us,” Boone presented during his argument.
Boone says that Randolph Family Housing took mold very seriously, but states there was no mold detected in the house that would’ve triggered the landlord’s policies to remediate such issues.
Defense attorneys claim the Vinales didn’t mention mold until a 2019 town hall, which multiple families attended. The Vinales family testified they believed there was mold since day one when they moved in.
The Vinales family testified they told the housing company about mold when they moved in 2017—but according to defense witnesses, mold wasn’t reported until 2019.
The defendants claim they paid more than $35,000 to cover the family’s out of pocket expenses when they had to vacate the home for mold remediation.
According to work order history, mold was only reported on four items after the remediation was done, but the Vinales family says they found additional mold on their belongings when they moved to their next base.\
The jury will also consider more than $96,000 in damages, both for rent paid during the Vinales’ tenancy and for their goods damaged by mold.
Multiple families have sued Hunt, but each case is being heard individually.
This is a developing story.