Homeowners win $4.4 million in suit against developer
Pam Slater
There were telltale signs that all was not right when Ed and Debra Boogaard walked through their new home in the Hillsborough subdivision in Folsom just before they bought it in 1991.
A whole section of the downstairs bedroom floor had been pulled up so repairs could be made to a pipe clogged with concrete. In the family room, part of the ceiling had been cut open to fix water damage caused by a leak in the roof. But the Boogaards, who had fallen in love with the upscale neighborhood and the spacious house, said they were given assurances that those and several other problems would be promptly corrected. But the problems remained - and the Boogaards ended up joining 29 of their neighbors in a lawsuit against the builder, Sunland Communities of Northern California Inc. , which had sold about 110 houses in the subdivision for as much as $250,000.
Last week, a jury awarded the home owners $3.9 million in compensatory damages and $500,000 punitive damages after a civil trial that spanned three months.
The award is said to be one of the largest of its kind in Sacramento County, and could spawn other suits by homeowners who didn't join in the original action.
"We proved that the homes were defective," said Sacramento attorney Mitchell Ostwald, who represented the homeowners. "And the jury found that (Sunland) acted with malice, oppression, fraud or despicable conduct in the construction of the homes. "
For two years, homeowners said they had reported numerous problems to Sunland: malfunctioning heating and air conditioning units and ducts, poor paint quality, leaky windows and pipes, cracked tiles and the use of substandard materials. They contend that their attempts to have repairs made weren't satisfactorily resolved.
Attorneys for Sunland said they conceded before and during trial that some of the homes had problems.
"We admitted at all points that there were some problems with these homes (but) there was a vast difference between what we thought needed to be done to correct those problems and what the plaintiffs demanded in order to settle the lawsuits," said Stephen L. Goff, a Sacramento attorney who defended the homebuilder.
Defense experts estimated total repair costs at under $400,000.
Goff said a decision has not been made yet on whether to appeal the award.
The jury, which deliberated for two weeks, used a laptop computer to tabulate damages and concluded they amounted to $125,000 to $150,000 per house. That included the hiring of engineers to redesign parts of the homes, permit fees and relocation expenses of the families that must move while their homes are repaired.
Sunland has not built homes in Sacramento since the second phase of the Hillsborough subdivision was completed in 1994, said Scott Rollins, Sunland's in-house attorney.
Goff stressed that there was no finding that the problems would affect the safety or habitability of the homes, but some Hillsborough residents disagreed.
Debra Boogaard said her family suffers during the summer in the upstairs portion of the home. Despite air conditioning and fans, the daytime temperature never dips below 90 degrees, she said.
She and others also have complained that the houses were not built according to the plans submitted to the city of Folsom. The residences were build with inadequate "shear" walls - which protect against wind and seismic events - improperly installed tiles and substandard materials, including too small nails, they contended.
"Our house had a beam missing under the master bedroom to support the fireplace and the tub," Boogaard said.
She said tile has been repaired 18 times.
"The first year was a constant parade of contractors in and out and there were frequent re-re-re do fixes. We just got tired of all the Band-Aid attempts," she said. "It was a joke in the neighborhood that if there is a problem in your home Sunland will come out with a caulk gun. They just caulk everything. "
Neighbor Cheryl Allen voiced similar complaints.
"We've been living with these problems for a very, very long time," she said.
Tile is cracked in one bathroom and the heating and air conditioning systems are defective, she said. In addition, her family room ceiling has a rippling pattern to it that Sunland employees attempted to fix by applying a compound.
"Who knows how much 'mud' I have up there on my ceiling. They just tried to cover the problems up instead of finding out what the problems were," she said.
"Many of us have put every thing we have into these houses - financially and emotionally," Allen said. "You are supposed to be happy when you move into your dream house - and this is a nightmare.
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