A husband has claimed that construction of a swimming pool at the high school where his wife taught led to her death after she was exposed to toxic construction dust and diesel fumes for weeks.
Edwin Van Fleet filed a wrongful death lawsuit on August 11 against Nadar Inc., a contracting and engineering firm, after losing his wife, Judith Van Fleet.
Judith taught at Morro Bay High School for nearly 25 years and died in 2024 after years of declining health.
Her husband claimed the teacher developed serious health complications after being exposed to diesel emissions and dust created by the construction project for nearly 20 days.
Nadar was hired by the San Luis Coastal Unified School District to build a new pool at the high school and began work during the summer of 2016.
The excavation site for the project was 'located immediately adjacent to decedent's classroom,' the lawsuit states.
According to the filing, the project's Air Pollution Control District recommendations called for avoiding 'excavation and construction activities generating dust and emissions while school was in session.'
However, the lawsuit claims Nadar continued excavation work while Judith was teaching.
Edwin Van Fleet filed a wrongful death lawsuit on August 11 against Nadar Inc. after losing his wife, Judith Van Fleet in 2024
Judith taught at Morro Bay High School (Pictured) for nearly 25 years. She was allegedly exposed by toxic fumes generated by Nadar for nearly 20 days as they were contracted to build the school's pool
Van Fleet further accused the contractor of failing to implement required mitigation measures.
According to the lawsuit, the company did not follow requirements for 'dust control, idling restrictions, or monitoring of air quality.'
As a result, between August 19, 2016, and September 13, 2016, Judith Van Fleet was exposed to 'dust, fumes and diesel emissions in her classroom,' according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims she immediately began experiencing symptoms and developed a cough and wheezing.
The filing added she suffered difficulty breathing, sinus congestion, headaches, a hoarse voice, weakness, memory loss and cognitive decline.
On September 11, 2016, Judith visited a MedStop clinic for breathing difficulties, where she received oxygen and a rescue inhaler before returning to work the following day.
While at work, she allegedly 'experienced sudden onset of cognitive difficulties typical of excessive exposure to dust and emissions, including trouble remembering students' names and difficulty following her lesson plan,' the filing states.
According to the lawsuit, her symptoms progressively worsened throughout the following months and eventually forced her to retire early in 2017.
The complaint states that she was evaluated by multiple doctors, including a pulmonologist who diagnosed her with occupational asthma, vasomotor rhinitis and hypersensitivity to dust.
She was also evaluated by a neurologist, who diagnosed a persistent cognitive disorder and recurrent headaches.
The filing claimed that Judith immediately began experiencing symptoms and developed a cough and wheezing
The lawsuit claimed Nadar was aware Judith had complained about dust and emissions generated by the project while she was teaching
A neuropsychological evaluation allegedly found 'severe global cognitive deficits, including impairments in memory, language, visuospatial skills, concentration, processing speed, reasoning, naming, math calculation, and verbal initiation,' according to the lawsuit.
The filing claims Judith underwent mathematics testing and, despite having taught the subject for more than two decades, performed at a third-grade level.
By June 2024, 'she was immobile, bedbound, incontinent, unable to speak, and required 24-hour caregiving,' according to the complaint.
She died on August 12, 2024, at age 74. Her death certificate lists the immediate causes of death as respiratory failure and hypoxic encephalopathy.
The lawsuit claimed Nadar was aware Judith had complained about dust and emissions generated by the project while she was teaching.
In addition to wrongful death, the lawsuit seeks damages for strict liability failure to warn, strict liability design defect, loss of consortium and a survival action.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Nadar Inc. for comment.
