Mealey's Construction Defects : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Construction Defects

September 14, 2022
Homeowner: Arbitration Agreement Attached To Deed Doesn’t Run With The Land

AUSTIN, Texas — A homeowner argues in her Aug. 31 respondent’s brief on the merits filed in the Texas Supreme Court that she should not be compelled to arbitrate because she never signed an arbitration agreement and the agreement signed by the previous owner and the builder and attached to the home’s deed does not bind her to arbitrate because it was a personal covenant that did not touch and concern the land.
September 01, 2022
Florida Judge Issues Orders On Receiver, Attorney Fees In Champlain Collapse Suit

MIAMI — In multiple orders issued Aug. 30 and Aug. 31, the Florida judge overseeing the more than $1 billion class settlement in the consolidated case over the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South (CTS) condominium building in Surfside, Fla., awarded class counsel $65 million in attorney fees and the receiver more than $5.6 million in fees and expenses and ordered class counsel to meet with the receiver regarding the proper division of fees.
August 31, 2022
Grenfell Tower Residents Petition For Rehearing In Flammable Panels Case

PHILADELPHIA — Former residents of London’s Grenfell Tower, which caught fire in 2017, on July 22 filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the panel erred in affirming, on grounds of forum non conveniens, the dismissal of their strict products liability case against manufacturers of the allegedly flammable panels used on the tower and in removing a condition placed on the dismissal that could have allowed the case to return to the trial court.
August 31, 2022
Texas Panel: Testimony Shows Contractor’s Work Was Defective And Funds Missing

TYLER, Texas — A Texas appellate panel on Aug. 24, relying upon witness testimony, affirmed a trial court’s finding that the evidence indicated that a contractor breached his contract and the implied warranty of construction in a good and workmanlike manner by defectively constructing several features of a new home for a property owner and withdrawing more funds than he could document spending on the project.
August 31, 2022
Condo Association, Roofing Manufacturer Stipulate To Dismissal After Settlement

CHARLESTON, S.C. — One month after a federal judge in South Carolina ordered the dismissal of a case in which a condominium association claimed that a roofing manufacturer’s roof system was defective and unfit for hurricane weather, the two parties on July 26 filed a stipulation of dismissal after settling the association’s remaining claims of gross negligence and breach of express warranty.
August 31, 2022
Preliminary Approval Sought For $20.5M Settlement In Post-Katrina Housing Case

NEW ORLEANS — All parties in a putative class action brought by residents of New Orleans who purchased their homes from actor Brad Pitt’s nonprofit organization and who alleged that the houses contained numerous construction defects sought preliminary approval of a $20.5 million settlement on Aug. 16 in a Louisiana state court.
August 31, 2022
Subcontractor Says Developer Cannot Compel Arbitration Without Raising Cross-Claims

SARASOTA, Fla. — After being named in a request for joinder in an arbitration proceeding, a subcontractor on Aug. 1 asked a Florida court to determine whether an arbitration agreement exists between it and a condominium developer, both of which have been sued by the condominium association, arguing that the clause is not valid under Florida law and the developer waived its right to compel arbitration when it failed to raise cross-claims after two years of litigation.
August 30, 2022
Class Counsel In Champlain Towers Collapse Suit Awarded More Than $65M In Attorney Fees

MIAMI — Class counsel for the plaintiffs in the consolidated case in a Florida court over the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South (CTS) condominium building in Surfside, Fla., that has been settled for more than $1 billion were awarded more than $65 million in attorney fees in a hearing on Aug. 29.
August 29, 2022
Texas Panel: Home’s Hurricane Damage Not Linked To Engineer’s Contractual Duties

HOUSTON — An engineer had no duty to ensure that a home was built to meet floodplain elevation regulations but possibly had a duty related to personal property in the home, despite failing to inspect construction after a foundation was laid in a home that was subsequently damaged by Hurricane Harvey, a Texas appellate panel found Aug. 23 in affirming one, and reversing another, of a trial court’s grants of summary judgment on a homeowning couples’ negligence and gross negligence claims.
August 26, 2022
Builder Appeals Order Denying Arbitration Of Construction Claims To 4th Circuit

RICHMOND, Va. — A custom homebuilder and its general contractor on Aug. 16 appealed to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order by a federal judge in North Carolina denying their motion to dismiss a homeowning couple’s construction defects counterclaims and to compel arbitration after finding that the builder waived its right to compel arbitration by using the court’s “litigation machinery” when it sued and sought an injunction against the couple for operating a website condemning the company’s practices.
August 26, 2022
Fla. Judge Disallows ‘Presumptively Fraudulent’ Claims For Champlain Settlement

MIAMI — A Florida judge overseeing the more than $1 billion settlement reached in the consolidated case over the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South (CTS) condominium building in Surfside, Fla., issued an order on Aug. 25 granting a motion by the receiver and disallowing more than half of the claims filed as “presumptively fraudulent” after none of the more than 400 individuals who submitted the filings appeared at an Aug. 24 hearing to defend their claims.
August 24, 2022
4th Circuit: Home Defects Details Don’t Trigger Arbitration Of Mortgage Claims

RICHMOND, Va. — Mobile homeowners’ inclusion of details related to already settled construction defects claims in an amended complaint against the seller, lender and home insurance provider arising out of the mortgage loan for their home does not trigger the arbitration agreement the homeowners signed at the time of purchase as the information was necessary to add context to those claims, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Aug. 19, affirming a trial court’s denial of a motion to stay and compel arbitration.
August 24, 2022
Tennessee Homeowners Ordered To Stop Filing Motions In Decided Construction Dispute

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee state appellate panel on July 6 ordered a homeowning couple to stop filing motions and documents in regard to their previously decided construction defects claims after construing the couple’s two “emergency” motions as motions for rehearing and denying them as untimely.
August 23, 2022
Vermont Judge Denies Motion For Rehearing In Defective Barn Renovation Case

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A Vermont judge on Aug. 1 denied a contractor’s motion for rehearing after awarding a homeowner $44,232.95 in damages and prejudgment interest based on the contractor’s breach of contract and implied warranty.
August 23, 2022
California Panel: Roof Is Not A ‘Manufactured Product’ Under Right To Repair Act

SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel on Aug. 17 held that a roof is not a “manufactured product” for the purposes of the state’s Right to Repair Act and that a trial court did not err in finding that homeowners were required to provide evidence of water intrusion or falling materials to advance their defective roofing claims under the act.
August 23, 2022
Texas Panel Denies Rehearing After Vacating Sanctions In Construction Case

BEAUMONT, Texas — A Texas appellate panel on June 30 denied a homeowning couple’s motion for reconsideration of the panel’s conditional grant of mandamus relief ordering a trial court to vacate its order imposing sanctions against a builder who, the homeowners claim, intentionally hindered the discovery process.
August 17, 2022
Homeowners, Builder Debate Arbitrability Of Mold Case In Texas High Court

AUSTIN, Texas — The builder of a Texas home can’t compel the current owners to arbitrate their implied warranty claims brought after they discovered mold because they were not signatories to the original purchase agreement, the couple says in their respondent brief on the merits filed Aug. 8 in the Texas Supreme Court.
August 15, 2022
Champlain Settlement Increased By $53M; Receiver Seeks To Strike Baseless Claims

MIAMI — In separate Aug. 10 filings in a Florida court, the class plaintiffs in the largely settled case over the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South (CTS) condominium building in Surfside, Fla., filed a class notice that will inform members of an additional $53 million obtained in settlement funds and the receiver moved to strike claims by individuals believed to have no connection to the collapse.
August 11, 2022
Texas Panel: Arbitrator In Mold Case Exceeded Power On Expert, Arbitration Fees

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas state panel on Aug. 4 partially reversed a trial court’s decision granting post-judgment interest, expert witness fees and arbitration fees but affirmed the granting of attorney fees to a homeowning couple who sued their builder after allegedly discovering mold in their newly constructed home, finding that the arbitrator had no authority to award the expert witness and arbitration fees.
August 04, 2022
Certifier Of Brazilian Plywood, American Manufacturers Debate False Advertising Claim

FORT LAUDERDALE — A plywood certifying agency and its accreditor “continue the massive counterfeiting scheme that has completely corrupted Florida’s structural plywood market” by certifying Brazilian plywood as meeting U.S. standards, a coalition of American plywood manufacturers argue in their July 29 opposition to the certifier’s and accreditor’s motion to dismiss the coalition’s negligence and Lanham Act claims filed in the same federal court in Florida that previously issued a permanent injunction against another certifying agency.
August 04, 2022
Pa. Panel: Homebuilders’ List Of Similar Water Claims Not Privileged Or Work Product

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate panel on July 28 affirmed a trial court’s finding that a homebuilder’s spreadsheets containing lists of customers who complained of water intrusion damage, the same claims brought by the homeowners in the cases on appeal, was not privileged or protected as attorney work product because the documents were factual in nature and prepared by the company’s operations department, not its legal counsel.
August 04, 2022
Builder, Nonsignatory Dispute Texas High Court Jurisdiction In Arbitration Row

AUSTIN, Texas — A homeowner on July 21 told the Texas Supreme Court that it should decline to review an appellate court’s ruling affirming the trial court’s denial of a builder’s motion to compel arbitration of the nonsignatory spouse and minor children’s negligent construction claims, contending that the builder’s petition seeking review merely “manufacture[s]” questions regarding whether direct benefits estoppel and third-party beneficiary doctrines apply.
August 04, 2022
Judge In Champlain Towers Allows Attorney Fees Applications For Damage Claims

MIAMI — A Florida judge overseeing the more than $1 billion class settlement in the consolidated complaint over the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South (CTS) condominium building in Surfside, Fla., issued a sua sponte order on Aug. 3 permitting attorneys helping class members present damage claims to apply to the court for attorney fees and costs but reminded the attorneys that no fees or costs may be requested from class members.
August 03, 2022
Homebuilder Appeals To Texas High Court Over ‘Gateway’ Arbitration Decision

AUSTIN, Texas — The lower courts incorrectly ruled that nonsignatory children of homebuyers could not be compelled to arbitrate personal injury claims after the homebuilder’s motion to compel was dismissed because the children were not third-party beneficiaries to the purchase agreement signed between the parents and the homebuilder, the homebuilder tells the Texas Supreme Court in a May 25 reply brief on the merits.
August 02, 2022
Homeowners Seek Remand Of Water Damage Suit Based On Local Controversy Exception

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Homeowners claiming that the improper installation of the roofs on their homes has caused water damage filed a reply on July 22 in a federal court in South Carolina arguing that their putative class complaint should be remanded pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) local controversy exception based on their evidence that more than two-thirds of the proposed class members are citizens of that state.