- This topic has 40 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 15 years ago by
Aecetia.
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AuthorPosts
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March 11, 2008 at 8:34 PM #12075
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March 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM #167839
svelte
ParticipantYes, I have joined one in the past. No, I didn’t just jump on the bandwagon. Here’s the story:
We bought our home new from a developer who went BK shortly thereafter, during the 90s downturn. Therefore, we had noone to turn to for claims.
Fortunately, we had a house that held up well as did most (not all) of our neighbors. When the first class action was being organized, we declined because we had no issues to speak of. Several of our neighbors joined that first lawsuit and asked us to join, but we declined each time. I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether they had issues that needed to be remedied, but I have my suspicions.
That lawsuit ran it’s course, and they began to organize a second lawsuit. By this time, we did have a few relatively costly issues, nothing extremely serious but they did eat up a bit of cash (water damage, etc). We also had discovered things that were not uncovered by the initial walk-through, such as the fact that many of the roof tiles were not even nailed in and there was no paint whatsoever on the exterior trim that was very high off the ground. Obviously workers cut corners where they knew we wouldn’t look.
Again, there was no builder to turn to and the lawyers were quick to point out that the statute of limitations was about to run out on recovering any damages from the insurance carriers. Therefore, we joined the lawsuit. We eventually did get a settlement, and it basically covered the repairs that we had done to the house (by chance – they simply took the award and divided it amongst the homeowners). When we sold the home, we disclosed all of the above to the new owner and told them the exact repairs done.
One thing I did learn from the lawyers: even if the builder did not follow code and did unlawful things, they cannot be sued for that. From recent court rulings, you can only collect in a home defect lawsuit if the code violations, etc, led to some sort of secondary damage (water leakage, broken wires, etc).
Would I do it again? Probably – I was upset with the builder for leaving us in the lurch…there were several articles in the press about how they used clusters of companies to protect their assets from BK, complete with pictures of their mansions and expensive furnishings. And – I think I saw their name in the paper as owners of a new construction company awhile back, so they are still livin large (well, maybe not now in 2008 🙂 ). But I was also not real happy with the way the lawyers manipulated (in my opinion) the neighbors into feeling that they were all victims.
My advice: if you’re buying a new home, get an inspector up on that roof to tug on tiles and check paint pronto!
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March 11, 2008 at 10:09 PM #167859
Anonymous
GuestYou can find a lot of information on this online. It’s a very common practice considering how fast homes were thrown up in the past several years, Vegas is going nuts with construction defect litigation.
If you have a problem with the house try to work it our with the builder before getting lawyers. Lawyers are like doctors, you don’t want to see them until you absolutely have to. However, there is a statute of limitations on defects, so check on that.
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March 11, 2008 at 10:09 PM #168185
Anonymous
GuestYou can find a lot of information on this online. It’s a very common practice considering how fast homes were thrown up in the past several years, Vegas is going nuts with construction defect litigation.
If you have a problem with the house try to work it our with the builder before getting lawyers. Lawyers are like doctors, you don’t want to see them until you absolutely have to. However, there is a statute of limitations on defects, so check on that.
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March 11, 2008 at 10:09 PM #168191
Anonymous
GuestYou can find a lot of information on this online. It’s a very common practice considering how fast homes were thrown up in the past several years, Vegas is going nuts with construction defect litigation.
If you have a problem with the house try to work it our with the builder before getting lawyers. Lawyers are like doctors, you don’t want to see them until you absolutely have to. However, there is a statute of limitations on defects, so check on that.
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March 11, 2008 at 10:09 PM #168219
Anonymous
GuestYou can find a lot of information on this online. It’s a very common practice considering how fast homes were thrown up in the past several years, Vegas is going nuts with construction defect litigation.
If you have a problem with the house try to work it our with the builder before getting lawyers. Lawyers are like doctors, you don’t want to see them until you absolutely have to. However, there is a statute of limitations on defects, so check on that.
-
March 11, 2008 at 10:09 PM #168288
Anonymous
GuestYou can find a lot of information on this online. It’s a very common practice considering how fast homes were thrown up in the past several years, Vegas is going nuts with construction defect litigation.
If you have a problem with the house try to work it our with the builder before getting lawyers. Lawyers are like doctors, you don’t want to see them until you absolutely have to. However, there is a statute of limitations on defects, so check on that.
-
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March 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM #168166
svelte
ParticipantYes, I have joined one in the past. No, I didn’t just jump on the bandwagon. Here’s the story:
We bought our home new from a developer who went BK shortly thereafter, during the 90s downturn. Therefore, we had noone to turn to for claims.
Fortunately, we had a house that held up well as did most (not all) of our neighbors. When the first class action was being organized, we declined because we had no issues to speak of. Several of our neighbors joined that first lawsuit and asked us to join, but we declined each time. I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether they had issues that needed to be remedied, but I have my suspicions.
That lawsuit ran it’s course, and they began to organize a second lawsuit. By this time, we did have a few relatively costly issues, nothing extremely serious but they did eat up a bit of cash (water damage, etc). We also had discovered things that were not uncovered by the initial walk-through, such as the fact that many of the roof tiles were not even nailed in and there was no paint whatsoever on the exterior trim that was very high off the ground. Obviously workers cut corners where they knew we wouldn’t look.
Again, there was no builder to turn to and the lawyers were quick to point out that the statute of limitations was about to run out on recovering any damages from the insurance carriers. Therefore, we joined the lawsuit. We eventually did get a settlement, and it basically covered the repairs that we had done to the house (by chance – they simply took the award and divided it amongst the homeowners). When we sold the home, we disclosed all of the above to the new owner and told them the exact repairs done.
One thing I did learn from the lawyers: even if the builder did not follow code and did unlawful things, they cannot be sued for that. From recent court rulings, you can only collect in a home defect lawsuit if the code violations, etc, led to some sort of secondary damage (water leakage, broken wires, etc).
Would I do it again? Probably – I was upset with the builder for leaving us in the lurch…there were several articles in the press about how they used clusters of companies to protect their assets from BK, complete with pictures of their mansions and expensive furnishings. And – I think I saw their name in the paper as owners of a new construction company awhile back, so they are still livin large (well, maybe not now in 2008 🙂 ). But I was also not real happy with the way the lawyers manipulated (in my opinion) the neighbors into feeling that they were all victims.
My advice: if you’re buying a new home, get an inspector up on that roof to tug on tiles and check paint pronto!
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March 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM #168171
svelte
ParticipantYes, I have joined one in the past. No, I didn’t just jump on the bandwagon. Here’s the story:
We bought our home new from a developer who went BK shortly thereafter, during the 90s downturn. Therefore, we had noone to turn to for claims.
Fortunately, we had a house that held up well as did most (not all) of our neighbors. When the first class action was being organized, we declined because we had no issues to speak of. Several of our neighbors joined that first lawsuit and asked us to join, but we declined each time. I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether they had issues that needed to be remedied, but I have my suspicions.
That lawsuit ran it’s course, and they began to organize a second lawsuit. By this time, we did have a few relatively costly issues, nothing extremely serious but they did eat up a bit of cash (water damage, etc). We also had discovered things that were not uncovered by the initial walk-through, such as the fact that many of the roof tiles were not even nailed in and there was no paint whatsoever on the exterior trim that was very high off the ground. Obviously workers cut corners where they knew we wouldn’t look.
Again, there was no builder to turn to and the lawyers were quick to point out that the statute of limitations was about to run out on recovering any damages from the insurance carriers. Therefore, we joined the lawsuit. We eventually did get a settlement, and it basically covered the repairs that we had done to the house (by chance – they simply took the award and divided it amongst the homeowners). When we sold the home, we disclosed all of the above to the new owner and told them the exact repairs done.
One thing I did learn from the lawyers: even if the builder did not follow code and did unlawful things, they cannot be sued for that. From recent court rulings, you can only collect in a home defect lawsuit if the code violations, etc, led to some sort of secondary damage (water leakage, broken wires, etc).
Would I do it again? Probably – I was upset with the builder for leaving us in the lurch…there were several articles in the press about how they used clusters of companies to protect their assets from BK, complete with pictures of their mansions and expensive furnishings. And – I think I saw their name in the paper as owners of a new construction company awhile back, so they are still livin large (well, maybe not now in 2008 🙂 ). But I was also not real happy with the way the lawyers manipulated (in my opinion) the neighbors into feeling that they were all victims.
My advice: if you’re buying a new home, get an inspector up on that roof to tug on tiles and check paint pronto!
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March 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM #168199
svelte
ParticipantYes, I have joined one in the past. No, I didn’t just jump on the bandwagon. Here’s the story:
We bought our home new from a developer who went BK shortly thereafter, during the 90s downturn. Therefore, we had noone to turn to for claims.
Fortunately, we had a house that held up well as did most (not all) of our neighbors. When the first class action was being organized, we declined because we had no issues to speak of. Several of our neighbors joined that first lawsuit and asked us to join, but we declined each time. I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether they had issues that needed to be remedied, but I have my suspicions.
That lawsuit ran it’s course, and they began to organize a second lawsuit. By this time, we did have a few relatively costly issues, nothing extremely serious but they did eat up a bit of cash (water damage, etc). We also had discovered things that were not uncovered by the initial walk-through, such as the fact that many of the roof tiles were not even nailed in and there was no paint whatsoever on the exterior trim that was very high off the ground. Obviously workers cut corners where they knew we wouldn’t look.
Again, there was no builder to turn to and the lawyers were quick to point out that the statute of limitations was about to run out on recovering any damages from the insurance carriers. Therefore, we joined the lawsuit. We eventually did get a settlement, and it basically covered the repairs that we had done to the house (by chance – they simply took the award and divided it amongst the homeowners). When we sold the home, we disclosed all of the above to the new owner and told them the exact repairs done.
One thing I did learn from the lawyers: even if the builder did not follow code and did unlawful things, they cannot be sued for that. From recent court rulings, you can only collect in a home defect lawsuit if the code violations, etc, led to some sort of secondary damage (water leakage, broken wires, etc).
Would I do it again? Probably – I was upset with the builder for leaving us in the lurch…there were several articles in the press about how they used clusters of companies to protect their assets from BK, complete with pictures of their mansions and expensive furnishings. And – I think I saw their name in the paper as owners of a new construction company awhile back, so they are still livin large (well, maybe not now in 2008 🙂 ). But I was also not real happy with the way the lawyers manipulated (in my opinion) the neighbors into feeling that they were all victims.
My advice: if you’re buying a new home, get an inspector up on that roof to tug on tiles and check paint pronto!
-
March 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM #168268
svelte
ParticipantYes, I have joined one in the past. No, I didn’t just jump on the bandwagon. Here’s the story:
We bought our home new from a developer who went BK shortly thereafter, during the 90s downturn. Therefore, we had noone to turn to for claims.
Fortunately, we had a house that held up well as did most (not all) of our neighbors. When the first class action was being organized, we declined because we had no issues to speak of. Several of our neighbors joined that first lawsuit and asked us to join, but we declined each time. I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether they had issues that needed to be remedied, but I have my suspicions.
That lawsuit ran it’s course, and they began to organize a second lawsuit. By this time, we did have a few relatively costly issues, nothing extremely serious but they did eat up a bit of cash (water damage, etc). We also had discovered things that were not uncovered by the initial walk-through, such as the fact that many of the roof tiles were not even nailed in and there was no paint whatsoever on the exterior trim that was very high off the ground. Obviously workers cut corners where they knew we wouldn’t look.
Again, there was no builder to turn to and the lawyers were quick to point out that the statute of limitations was about to run out on recovering any damages from the insurance carriers. Therefore, we joined the lawsuit. We eventually did get a settlement, and it basically covered the repairs that we had done to the house (by chance – they simply took the award and divided it amongst the homeowners). When we sold the home, we disclosed all of the above to the new owner and told them the exact repairs done.
One thing I did learn from the lawyers: even if the builder did not follow code and did unlawful things, they cannot be sued for that. From recent court rulings, you can only collect in a home defect lawsuit if the code violations, etc, led to some sort of secondary damage (water leakage, broken wires, etc).
Would I do it again? Probably – I was upset with the builder for leaving us in the lurch…there were several articles in the press about how they used clusters of companies to protect their assets from BK, complete with pictures of their mansions and expensive furnishings. And – I think I saw their name in the paper as owners of a new construction company awhile back, so they are still livin large (well, maybe not now in 2008 🙂 ). But I was also not real happy with the way the lawyers manipulated (in my opinion) the neighbors into feeling that they were all victims.
My advice: if you’re buying a new home, get an inspector up on that roof to tug on tiles and check paint pronto!
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March 12, 2008 at 7:52 AM #167964
Coronita
ParticipantIn my community, there was a law firm that went around trying to turn issues with a couple of homes in a general class action lawsuit against the builder. The builder responded by saying if you have issues with the home (even after warranty), let us know and we'll take a look.
In all, I had some minor grievances with minor things (like a seal leaks in a double pane windows), some minor cracks in some of the exterior stucco walls,etc. In all, the builder took care of things, even though I was the second owner and approximately 8 years out of warranty.
I didn't join a class lawsuit, namely because my problems were minor, it would have taken too long to get a resolution, the lawyers would have eaten all the money, and I would have otherwise thwarted efforts by the builder to actively address the minor issues i had, not to mention that you're home would now be in public records as being one that was involved in a class action for "construction defects", whatever future buyers,appraisers,lenders interpret from that. Probably not that big of a deal, but why make something appear so serious when it's not and the builder's willing to take care of it??
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 8:23 AM #167974
Anonymous
GuestCD plaintiff’s lawyers are notorious for trying to round up more homeowners than reasonable and about half of them drop out after they are told they have to open their homes to inspections and possibly destructive testing.
It’s just easier to let the builder take care of it in most cases, unless you have major issues. Even then they may fix it. Never hurts to ask!
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March 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM #168089
heavyd
ParticipantNot sure how it works in California, but here in New York we joined with other owners in our newly renovated building 4-5 years ago, hired an attorney (paid by the hour, NOT on contingency basis), and brought in the state attorney general’s office (guy by the name of Spitzer, you might have heard of him…) when the developer failed to deliver what was promised in the prospectus.
It took almost 3 years, but the developer finally agreed to build / repair certain key items and pay a cash settlement in 2 installments once the AG’s office threatened to sue (the AG, bless his whoremongering soul, has a pretty good record in the courts here). I am not sure whether this approach would work with a home not sold via prospectus.
Over the course of those 3 years, while we were battling a very unresponsive developer, the Board at our building spent I believe $75-90K in legal and engineering fees…most of which were effectively paid by the developer in the end.
It was an unpleasant and lengthy battle, but in the end it worked out quite well.
D
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March 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM #168099
Aecetia
ParticipantHere’s some more information on construction defect litigation and third parties. Our HOA sued for problems with windows and roofs and we all received about $6,000.00. after several years of litigation. The attorneys made more, but it was worth it for the satisfaction and we were outside of warranties. The interesting situation with our site was that these homes were originally built by one company and then taken over twice by other companies, so there were lots of litigants involved. This was in the 90’s.
http://www.burnhambrown.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=8756
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March 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM #168109
Coronita
ParticipantI should also add that if your are part of a class action lawsuit (particularly if you're in an attached community with the HOA suing the original builder) it sometimes raises a slight eyebrow for lenders when you're trying to buy into the community or refinance. It happened on our previous attached home in CV where the HOA was sueing the builder for putting the gaslines right next to areas where sprinklers routinely drench the grounds, eventually causing corrosion in the external gas lines. During the lawsuit, we we tried to refinance, we weren't able to get the best rates, citing pending litigation (weird).
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM #168120
Aecetia
ParticipantI agree with flu and it could be something that needs to be disclosed. Perhaps SDR can advise on that. I understand that you have to disclose if your house is haunted and/or if someone died there….
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March 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM #168446
Aecetia
ParticipantI agree with flu and it could be something that needs to be disclosed. Perhaps SDR can advise on that. I understand that you have to disclose if your house is haunted and/or if someone died there….
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March 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM #168452
Aecetia
ParticipantI agree with flu and it could be something that needs to be disclosed. Perhaps SDR can advise on that. I understand that you have to disclose if your house is haunted and/or if someone died there….
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March 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM #168478
Aecetia
ParticipantI agree with flu and it could be something that needs to be disclosed. Perhaps SDR can advise on that. I understand that you have to disclose if your house is haunted and/or if someone died there….
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March 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM #168550
Aecetia
ParticipantI agree with flu and it could be something that needs to be disclosed. Perhaps SDR can advise on that. I understand that you have to disclose if your house is haunted and/or if someone died there….
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March 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM #168436
Coronita
ParticipantI should also add that if your are part of a class action lawsuit (particularly if you're in an attached community with the HOA suing the original builder) it sometimes raises a slight eyebrow for lenders when you're trying to buy into the community or refinance. It happened on our previous attached home in CV where the HOA was sueing the builder for putting the gaslines right next to areas where sprinklers routinely drench the grounds, eventually causing corrosion in the external gas lines. During the lawsuit, we we tried to refinance, we weren't able to get the best rates, citing pending litigation (weird).
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM #168442
Coronita
ParticipantI should also add that if your are part of a class action lawsuit (particularly if you're in an attached community with the HOA suing the original builder) it sometimes raises a slight eyebrow for lenders when you're trying to buy into the community or refinance. It happened on our previous attached home in CV where the HOA was sueing the builder for putting the gaslines right next to areas where sprinklers routinely drench the grounds, eventually causing corrosion in the external gas lines. During the lawsuit, we we tried to refinance, we weren't able to get the best rates, citing pending litigation (weird).
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM #168469
Coronita
ParticipantI should also add that if your are part of a class action lawsuit (particularly if you're in an attached community with the HOA suing the original builder) it sometimes raises a slight eyebrow for lenders when you're trying to buy into the community or refinance. It happened on our previous attached home in CV where the HOA was sueing the builder for putting the gaslines right next to areas where sprinklers routinely drench the grounds, eventually causing corrosion in the external gas lines. During the lawsuit, we we tried to refinance, we weren't able to get the best rates, citing pending litigation (weird).
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM #168540
Coronita
ParticipantI should also add that if your are part of a class action lawsuit (particularly if you're in an attached community with the HOA suing the original builder) it sometimes raises a slight eyebrow for lenders when you're trying to buy into the community or refinance. It happened on our previous attached home in CV where the HOA was sueing the builder for putting the gaslines right next to areas where sprinklers routinely drench the grounds, eventually causing corrosion in the external gas lines. During the lawsuit, we we tried to refinance, we weren't able to get the best rates, citing pending litigation (weird).
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM #168426
Aecetia
ParticipantHere’s some more information on construction defect litigation and third parties. Our HOA sued for problems with windows and roofs and we all received about $6,000.00. after several years of litigation. The attorneys made more, but it was worth it for the satisfaction and we were outside of warranties. The interesting situation with our site was that these homes were originally built by one company and then taken over twice by other companies, so there were lots of litigants involved. This was in the 90’s.
http://www.burnhambrown.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=8756
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March 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM #168432
Aecetia
ParticipantHere’s some more information on construction defect litigation and third parties. Our HOA sued for problems with windows and roofs and we all received about $6,000.00. after several years of litigation. The attorneys made more, but it was worth it for the satisfaction and we were outside of warranties. The interesting situation with our site was that these homes were originally built by one company and then taken over twice by other companies, so there were lots of litigants involved. This was in the 90’s.
http://www.burnhambrown.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=8756
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM #168459
Aecetia
ParticipantHere’s some more information on construction defect litigation and third parties. Our HOA sued for problems with windows and roofs and we all received about $6,000.00. after several years of litigation. The attorneys made more, but it was worth it for the satisfaction and we were outside of warranties. The interesting situation with our site was that these homes were originally built by one company and then taken over twice by other companies, so there were lots of litigants involved. This was in the 90’s.
http://www.burnhambrown.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=8756
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM #168530
Aecetia
ParticipantHere’s some more information on construction defect litigation and third parties. Our HOA sued for problems with windows and roofs and we all received about $6,000.00. after several years of litigation. The attorneys made more, but it was worth it for the satisfaction and we were outside of warranties. The interesting situation with our site was that these homes were originally built by one company and then taken over twice by other companies, so there were lots of litigants involved. This was in the 90’s.
http://www.burnhambrown.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=8756
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM #168416
heavyd
ParticipantNot sure how it works in California, but here in New York we joined with other owners in our newly renovated building 4-5 years ago, hired an attorney (paid by the hour, NOT on contingency basis), and brought in the state attorney general’s office (guy by the name of Spitzer, you might have heard of him…) when the developer failed to deliver what was promised in the prospectus.
It took almost 3 years, but the developer finally agreed to build / repair certain key items and pay a cash settlement in 2 installments once the AG’s office threatened to sue (the AG, bless his whoremongering soul, has a pretty good record in the courts here). I am not sure whether this approach would work with a home not sold via prospectus.
Over the course of those 3 years, while we were battling a very unresponsive developer, the Board at our building spent I believe $75-90K in legal and engineering fees…most of which were effectively paid by the developer in the end.
It was an unpleasant and lengthy battle, but in the end it worked out quite well.
D
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM #168422
heavyd
ParticipantNot sure how it works in California, but here in New York we joined with other owners in our newly renovated building 4-5 years ago, hired an attorney (paid by the hour, NOT on contingency basis), and brought in the state attorney general’s office (guy by the name of Spitzer, you might have heard of him…) when the developer failed to deliver what was promised in the prospectus.
It took almost 3 years, but the developer finally agreed to build / repair certain key items and pay a cash settlement in 2 installments once the AG’s office threatened to sue (the AG, bless his whoremongering soul, has a pretty good record in the courts here). I am not sure whether this approach would work with a home not sold via prospectus.
Over the course of those 3 years, while we were battling a very unresponsive developer, the Board at our building spent I believe $75-90K in legal and engineering fees…most of which were effectively paid by the developer in the end.
It was an unpleasant and lengthy battle, but in the end it worked out quite well.
D
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM #168449
heavyd
ParticipantNot sure how it works in California, but here in New York we joined with other owners in our newly renovated building 4-5 years ago, hired an attorney (paid by the hour, NOT on contingency basis), and brought in the state attorney general’s office (guy by the name of Spitzer, you might have heard of him…) when the developer failed to deliver what was promised in the prospectus.
It took almost 3 years, but the developer finally agreed to build / repair certain key items and pay a cash settlement in 2 installments once the AG’s office threatened to sue (the AG, bless his whoremongering soul, has a pretty good record in the courts here). I am not sure whether this approach would work with a home not sold via prospectus.
Over the course of those 3 years, while we were battling a very unresponsive developer, the Board at our building spent I believe $75-90K in legal and engineering fees…most of which were effectively paid by the developer in the end.
It was an unpleasant and lengthy battle, but in the end it worked out quite well.
D
-
March 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM #168520
heavyd
ParticipantNot sure how it works in California, but here in New York we joined with other owners in our newly renovated building 4-5 years ago, hired an attorney (paid by the hour, NOT on contingency basis), and brought in the state attorney general’s office (guy by the name of Spitzer, you might have heard of him…) when the developer failed to deliver what was promised in the prospectus.
It took almost 3 years, but the developer finally agreed to build / repair certain key items and pay a cash settlement in 2 installments once the AG’s office threatened to sue (the AG, bless his whoremongering soul, has a pretty good record in the courts here). I am not sure whether this approach would work with a home not sold via prospectus.
Over the course of those 3 years, while we were battling a very unresponsive developer, the Board at our building spent I believe $75-90K in legal and engineering fees…most of which were effectively paid by the developer in the end.
It was an unpleasant and lengthy battle, but in the end it worked out quite well.
D
-
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March 12, 2008 at 8:23 AM #168301
Anonymous
GuestCD plaintiff’s lawyers are notorious for trying to round up more homeowners than reasonable and about half of them drop out after they are told they have to open their homes to inspections and possibly destructive testing.
It’s just easier to let the builder take care of it in most cases, unless you have major issues. Even then they may fix it. Never hurts to ask!
-
March 12, 2008 at 8:23 AM #168307
Anonymous
GuestCD plaintiff’s lawyers are notorious for trying to round up more homeowners than reasonable and about half of them drop out after they are told they have to open their homes to inspections and possibly destructive testing.
It’s just easier to let the builder take care of it in most cases, unless you have major issues. Even then they may fix it. Never hurts to ask!
-
March 12, 2008 at 8:23 AM #168334
Anonymous
GuestCD plaintiff’s lawyers are notorious for trying to round up more homeowners than reasonable and about half of them drop out after they are told they have to open their homes to inspections and possibly destructive testing.
It’s just easier to let the builder take care of it in most cases, unless you have major issues. Even then they may fix it. Never hurts to ask!
-
March 12, 2008 at 8:23 AM #168405
Anonymous
GuestCD plaintiff’s lawyers are notorious for trying to round up more homeowners than reasonable and about half of them drop out after they are told they have to open their homes to inspections and possibly destructive testing.
It’s just easier to let the builder take care of it in most cases, unless you have major issues. Even then they may fix it. Never hurts to ask!
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March 12, 2008 at 7:52 AM #168291
Coronita
ParticipantIn my community, there was a law firm that went around trying to turn issues with a couple of homes in a general class action lawsuit against the builder. The builder responded by saying if you have issues with the home (even after warranty), let us know and we'll take a look.
In all, I had some minor grievances with minor things (like a seal leaks in a double pane windows), some minor cracks in some of the exterior stucco walls,etc. In all, the builder took care of things, even though I was the second owner and approximately 8 years out of warranty.
I didn't join a class lawsuit, namely because my problems were minor, it would have taken too long to get a resolution, the lawyers would have eaten all the money, and I would have otherwise thwarted efforts by the builder to actively address the minor issues i had, not to mention that you're home would now be in public records as being one that was involved in a class action for "construction defects", whatever future buyers,appraisers,lenders interpret from that. Probably not that big of a deal, but why make something appear so serious when it's not and the builder's willing to take care of it??
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 7:52 AM #168297
Coronita
ParticipantIn my community, there was a law firm that went around trying to turn issues with a couple of homes in a general class action lawsuit against the builder. The builder responded by saying if you have issues with the home (even after warranty), let us know and we'll take a look.
In all, I had some minor grievances with minor things (like a seal leaks in a double pane windows), some minor cracks in some of the exterior stucco walls,etc. In all, the builder took care of things, even though I was the second owner and approximately 8 years out of warranty.
I didn't join a class lawsuit, namely because my problems were minor, it would have taken too long to get a resolution, the lawyers would have eaten all the money, and I would have otherwise thwarted efforts by the builder to actively address the minor issues i had, not to mention that you're home would now be in public records as being one that was involved in a class action for "construction defects", whatever future buyers,appraisers,lenders interpret from that. Probably not that big of a deal, but why make something appear so serious when it's not and the builder's willing to take care of it??
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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March 12, 2008 at 7:52 AM #168324
Coronita
ParticipantIn my community, there was a law firm that went around trying to turn issues with a couple of homes in a general class action lawsuit against the builder. The builder responded by saying if you have issues with the home (even after warranty), let us know and we'll take a look.
In all, I had some minor grievances with minor things (like a seal leaks in a double pane windows), some minor cracks in some of the exterior stucco walls,etc. In all, the builder took care of things, even though I was the second owner and approximately 8 years out of warranty.
I didn't join a class lawsuit, namely because my problems were minor, it would have taken too long to get a resolution, the lawyers would have eaten all the money, and I would have otherwise thwarted efforts by the builder to actively address the minor issues i had, not to mention that you're home would now be in public records as being one that was involved in a class action for "construction defects", whatever future buyers,appraisers,lenders interpret from that. Probably not that big of a deal, but why make something appear so serious when it's not and the builder's willing to take care of it??
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
-
March 12, 2008 at 7:52 AM #168393
Coronita
ParticipantIn my community, there was a law firm that went around trying to turn issues with a couple of homes in a general class action lawsuit against the builder. The builder responded by saying if you have issues with the home (even after warranty), let us know and we'll take a look.
In all, I had some minor grievances with minor things (like a seal leaks in a double pane windows), some minor cracks in some of the exterior stucco walls,etc. In all, the builder took care of things, even though I was the second owner and approximately 8 years out of warranty.
I didn't join a class lawsuit, namely because my problems were minor, it would have taken too long to get a resolution, the lawyers would have eaten all the money, and I would have otherwise thwarted efforts by the builder to actively address the minor issues i had, not to mention that you're home would now be in public records as being one that was involved in a class action for "construction defects", whatever future buyers,appraisers,lenders interpret from that. Probably not that big of a deal, but why make something appear so serious when it's not and the builder's willing to take care of it??
[img_assist|nid=5962|title=selfportrait|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=80]
—– Sour grapes for everyone!
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