SAN ANTONIO — The defendants in a moldy military housing trial are presenting their case.
Attorneys for AETC II Privatized Housing, or Hunt Military Communities, are back in the courtroom this week and calling witnesses who worked for Hunt. At the time, several complaints were filed by multiple military families.
The plaintiffs, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Shane Vinales and his wife Becky, are one of several families suing. They allege Hunt made patchwork fixes to structural issues and did little to address mold inside their home.
In her last day of testimony, Becky Vinales took the stand briefly on Tuesday morning, refuting claims that she denied maintenance workers from fulfilling work orders on her home.
“I just felt like things were never getting done,” Vinales said, adding she felt she was being blamed for the problems in her home when she was cross-examined by the defense attorneys. “We didn’t ask for problems for the home. They were given to us."
Defense attorneys said outside the presence of the jury that the Vinales family had opportunity to provide feedback on the maintenance orders as part of surveys sent by the housing company, but none were completed.
According to one of the defense attorneys, Hunt claims they offered $8,000 to the Vinales family to assist with their belongings and with their RV stay while mold remediation was being done on the home.
Last week's testimony on the work order history showed only four items had mold on them after the remediation was completed.
Audra Froom, community director for Randolph Family Housing, which oversaw the completion of work orders for the homes on base, testifies the Vinales family never submitted documents saying they were dissatisfied with work orders completed on the home.
Froom testified that she never heard the Vinales family complain about mold in the carpet when they moved in, either, only stating they heard about mold following a town hall in February of 2019.
Months later, work order history showed the Vinaleses asked for a duct cleaning. Froom doubled down on testimony that the Vinales family delayed them from completing the duct cleaning after Mrs. Vinales asked for mold testing to be done first before the duct cleaning was done.
Froom testified that her maintenance technicians were delayed in completing the mold remediation of Vinales’ home. According to her testimony, she sent an email to Mrs. Vinales stating they could start the work the next day, but says she didn’t get a response until six days later, in which Mrs. Vinales stated she wanted to wait for her husband to return from Fort Bragg first.
Testimony in the case is expected to continue for at least the next week. According to the defense attorneys, additional maintenance technicians are expected to testify about the Vinaleses’ claims.