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Verdicts / Settlements - PlaintiffsConfidential HOA: Construction Defect Slope Failures - NegligenceCASE TYPE: Construction Defect Slope Failures - Negligence
SETTLEMENT: $3,150,000.00 CASE/NUMBER: Case I.D. Confidential COURT/DATE: Los Angeles Superior Van Nuys/March 1, 1995. JUDGE: Ross Hart, AAA ATTORNEYS: Plaintiff - Alexander Robertson, IV , Janice M. Michaels ( Knopfler & Robertson Woodland Hills) Defendant - Sam J. Arsht, Jeffrey Frazier (Silver & Arsht, Westlake Village) TECHNICAL EXPERTS: Plaintiff - Kevin V. Keegan, civil engineer, Simi Valley; Mohammad Joolazadeh, soils engineer, Yorba Linda; Mike Weber, grading contractor, Castaic. Defendant - Leroy Crandall, soils engineer, Marina del Rey; Raymond G. Lombard, cost estimator, Huntington Beach; Niles T. Nordquist, landscape architect, San Diego; Richard Rauseo, civil engineer, San Dimas. FactsDefendant developers built approximately 400 custom homes in 12 separate phases between 1986 and 1998. Following heavy rains in February 1992, numerous common area fill slopes within two of the tracts suffered slope failures. The homeowners association and the developers reached an out-of-court settlement wherein the developers agreed to and did perform all necessary slope repairs. Following heavy rains in 1995, additional common area fill slopes and certain fill slopes on individual lots in other tracts within the development also failed. The homeowners association and the developers reached a settlement agreement whereby the developers agreed to perform all necessary repairs. The plaintiff alleged that the homeowners association and the developers entered into a separate agreement in which the developers promised to reconstruct all unfailed fill slopes at the developers* expense, or establish a repair fund to cover the anticipated cost of repairs to the slopes that had not yet failed. After completing most repairs from the 1995 failures, the developers ceased further repairs and refused to fund the repair account under the terms of the settlement agreement. The homeowners association then filed suit against the developers, the repair contractors, the original grading contractors and engineers for strict liability, negligence and breach of warranties. In 1998, additional slope failures occurred throughout the project. Plaintiff ContentionsThe plaintiff contended that the fill slopes throughout the project were defectively designed and repeatedly suffered from surficial failures in years after heavy rainfall. The plaintiff also contended that the developers never intended to live up to their obligations in the 1995 settlement agreement to either repair all unfailed slopes or establish a repair fund to cover the anticipated cost of repairing future slope failures. The plaintiff also contended that there were deficiencies in the surface and subsurface drainage systems throughout the common areas of the project. Defendant ContentionsThe defendant contended the fill slopes were not defectively designed and the homeowners association or the city landscape maintenance district had over-watered the slopes, causing them to fail. DamagesMultiple slope failures and damage to retaining walls, streets, drainage, etc., throughout the common area slopes. The plaintiffs' cost of repair was $6,950,000. Other InformationThe settlement was reached approximately two years and three months after the case was filed. |