Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

[Kee Lee]

Hi If anyone can give some advice

About 8 months ago in June 2023, tenant complained of water leakage in one of the rooms, I sent my handyman to take a look and looks like the HVAC air filter was completely blocked, it caused alot of water to leak onto the floor.  At the time the tenants wanted compensation for many shoes and much clothes that was on the floor and have been damaged.  I told them I can't claim it through insurance since it was due to the fact they (the tenant) didn't replace the air filter.  I did have the handy guy clean and dry off the area on two or three separate occasions.

Moving forward to two weeks ago, they are complaining of mold and now sickness, I hired a property manager to deal with this.  He hired a mold remediation company and looks like there is significant amount of mold and the cost estimate to remediate is coming to 12k.  Also looks like the tenant wants in the range of 10k for compensation.  So hence the question is do I call my insurance company or handle it privately?

Thx

KJ