It has been three years since police discovered a meth lab inside the green house on Jackson Street.

The chemicals are all gone now, as is the rotten food. The walls, once streaked with human filth, have been painted over.

What remains isn't entirely clear. But it has touched off a yearlong legal fight that shows no sign of ending soon.

On one side is Licia Henderson, the Casper woman who said she bought the house without being told its sordid history. She is suing three people involved in the sale, alleging their failure to disclose the methamphetamine lab left her with an uninhabitable home. She's also suing a woman who performed tests on the home after the police bust.

"The bottom line, I think, is had she ever been told by one person that this house was previously a meth lab, we wouldn't be here today," said Jakob Norman, Henderson's attorney.

In interviews and court documents, lawyers for the defendants take issue with Henderson's claim. In at least two cases, they say their clients didn't know the house had been used to make meth. Some defendants have also blamed one another.

Attorney Michael Zwickl, who represents the woman who performed tests at the house, even doubts claims the home is uninhabitable.

"I haven't seen any proof of that right now," he said.

In April 2005, the house at 1445 S. Jackson St. became headline news. There were stories of babies locked in bedrooms, filth-smeared walls and a couple who manufactured toxic drugs in a home with children.

Nearly 700 miles to the south in Albuquerque, N.M., Henderson said she had no idea of the home's dark past. She had decided to move to Casper in March 2007 and wanted a small house to live in until she settled in her new city.

Henderson, 39, said she enlisted Realtor Kathy Petty-Lucht to assist her. The agent e-mailed her several homes to consider, including a modest, two-bedroom place on Jackson Street. With its hardwood floors and new carpets, it seemed ideal.

"The pictures made it look really nice," Henderson said.

She made an offer without visiting the home, instead counting on her real estate agent and the home inspection. After some back and forth, she reached an agreement with the seller, a man named Monte Johnson.

The sale closed on April 23, 2007. Henderson moved in two days later.

When she arrived, the weather was warm and sunny. About a week later, Casper was hit with a late-season storm, so she turned on the furnace and closed the windows.

That's when it started, she said. A funny taste in her mouth. Weird pains in her chest.

She mentioned the symptoms to a neighbor, whose response sparked a legal battle, and according to Henderson, started her on the path toward financial ruin.

"Did you know that house used to be a meth lab?" the neighbor asked.

Henderson filed her lawsuit that November. Two months earlier, an Idaho company tested the home and found unsafe levels of methamphetamine contamination throughout the dwelling, according to a report she provided to the Star-Tribune. The company, Meth Lab Cleanup LLC, concluded the house required decontamination.

In her lawsuit, Henderson accuses three people and two businesses of failing to inform her about the meth lab:

* Petty-Lucht and the company she worked for, Stratton Real Estate.

* Monte Johnson.

* Johnson's real estate agent, Marrolyce Goodman, and Arrow Realty, the company she works for.

Henderson further alleged Kim Perry, who performed tests at the home, failed to conduct them properly.

"I feel as though I was totally taken advantage of, that I was viewed as an outsider moving to town that wouldn't know anything," Henderson said. "I feel that I've been totally abused."

As in any home sale, Henderson received a document from the seller intended to disclose any issues related to the house. The third section covers hazardous conditions. It, like almost every section of the document, was left blank, save for a black slash and the word "rental" written across the page.

"People had the opportunity to put somebody on notice of the problems," Norman said. "That is the purpose of this required form. And frankly, you are looking at it, and it doesn't put anybody on notice for anything."

The lawsuit is novel in one respect. In what might be a first for Wyoming, Norman accused Johnson of "toxic battery," reasoning that methamphetamine in the home injured Henderson.

"People did know something was in this house," Norman explained. "But they don't tell Ms. Henderson that, and she is injured."

The defendants see things differently. In court documents, they've denied many of Henderson's allegations. They've also, in some cases, pointed the finger at one another.

Johnson's attorney, Spar Stormo, declined to comment on the case. But in a court document filed last month, he asserted Johnson cleaned up the home, and that afterward, Perry tested the dwelling and determined it was free of toxicity.

In the same document, Stormo states that Goodman and Arrow Realty knew the property's history. Johnson also claims Goodman was the one who filled out the property disclosure statement that didn't mention methamphetamine.

James Bell, the attorney representing Goodman and Arrow Realty, also declined to comment. But in a court filing, Bell argued his clients didn't know a meth-making operation existed at the home or that the drug was ever present at the property.

Peter Nicolaysen, the attorney for Petty-Lucht and Stratton Real Estate, said he's still evaluating all the claims and cross-claims related to the lawsuit.

"I don't have any information that my client knew or should have known about any adverse condition," he said.

In his own court filings, Nicolaysen wrote that even if misrepresentations are proven in the case, they were made without the knowledge and approval of Petty-Lucht or Stratton.

Perry's attorney, meanwhile, wonders why his client is even involved in the lawsuit. Perry tested the home in April 2005, and again two years later, according to her attorney. The latter test, Zwickl said, found only an insignificant amount of meth.

"The main thing is, it would be impossible for Kim Perry to be able to warn an unknown buyer about a home that she never cleaned," he said.

"She tested the home and said there had been meth here and reported it to Monte Johnson and his insurance company," he added. "And then Monte Johnson cleaned it up, or said he did."

Whatever happens with the case, it likely won't be resolved soon. A judge won't set a trial date until late January. Norman doesn't expect jurors to hear the case until 2010.

Henderson hopes to reach a settlement before then. She'd like someone to take back the house and help her get back on her feet financially.

"If I could have this house off my hands, recoup the losses I've been experiencing, that would improve my life," she said.

Defense attorney Zwickl questions whether taking back the house would end the matter. He believes Henderson may have turned down an offer to buy the house in favor of litigation - a charge she flatly denies.

If the trial doesn't happen for another two years, Henderson anticipates she'll have to declare bankruptcy. She has already seen her credit lines reduced and worries she's in a financial tailspin from which she won't recover.

"Once you start getting into a hole financially," she said, "it just gets out of control."

Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.