Utah Court of Appeals upholds dismissal in homeowner’s mold-remediation dispute over written contract

The Utah Court of Appeals on Sept. 5, 2025, affirmed a lower court’s summary-judgment ruling in favor of All Surface LC, holding that a signed customer agreement forestalled homeowners’ claims that the company agreed to perform mold remediation.

A basement shower’s shared wall with a furnace room allowed condensation to seep into the wall over time, producing rot and visible mold. Esther Reid and her mother, Mina Richins, hired All Surface to replace the shower after discovering a puddle and mold. Reid signed a written contract on March 9, 2017, listing a contract price of $8,470 and specifying installation of a “30x30 low threshold shower base.” The contract’s specifications pages marked demolition of the “Tub/Shower Base” as “YES” but did not mark “Wall” for demolition. The Contract also included a release provision stating: “Customer agrees to indemnify, hold harmless, release, and forever discharge . . . from and against any and all claims . . . resulting from mold or mildew found or not found, seen or unseen, discovered at the time of the job or in the future.”

Reid testified that All Surface sales associate Brad Watson told…