As noted yesterday, we're smack in the middle of clerkship hiring season. Perhaps some of you are applying to judges based in Miami. Clerking in a tropical paradise -- what's not to like?

Possibly deadly toxic mold, that's what. From an article by Julie Kay in the Daily Business Review (via SDFLA Blog):

Two studies performed at the historic David W. Dyer federal courthouse in downtown Miami show there are significant mold and air safety issues at one of Miami-Dade County’s oldest courthouses and suggest parts of the building are beyond repair.

The studies... were commissioned by the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida after U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Klein became ill and died last year of a mysterious respiratory illness, and his fellow magistrate judges raised concerns about the building’s environment.

Additional discussion appears after the jump.

There's more scary stuff in the full article, which you can access here. Florida lawyer-blogger David Oscar Marcus has this commentary:

Chief Judge Moreno is a people person and is a very practical judge -- he will do everything he can to fix this problem and make sure no one is subject to unhealthy conditions. I'm sure of that.

But I'm also sure that courthouse staff is wondering what the deal is with the brand new courthouse just sitting there. Why do they have to work in what they believe is an unsafe courthouse when a sparkling new one is built across the street. We need to sue those jokers who can't get the building ready to open. It's a bad joke already. The over/under is still January 1, 2008, but the smart money is on the over.

A federal project plagued by delays? Heaven forfend!

Update: Miami sources inform us that the only judges in the Dyer courthouse are magistrate judges. If Article III judges were in the building, would the powers-that-be have allowed things to get this bad?

Facilities: A toxic courthouse [Daily Business Review]
Sick (court)house [Southern District of Florida Blog]