Pulte hit with suit on accessibility

Alana Roberts

Monday, March 29, 2004 | 11:24 a.m.

The Disabled Rights Action Committee (DRAC) has filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan-based developer Pulte Home Corp., alleging the design of three of Pulte's Las Vegas condominium complexes violates federal housing accessibility laws.

The lawsuit, filed last week, follows an agreement the developer made with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001, which settled complaints filed against the home builder over accessibility violations at the Sunset Mesa, Stone Ridge and South Park condominium complexes.

In the most recent lawsuit, DRAC alleges that the 2001 settlement doesn't require the developer to pay compensation to "aggrieved persons," construct replacement units or offer financial incentives to condo owners to request retrofits in their units.

The lawsuit names DRAC member Tamara Thompson as a plaintiff, and said that Thompson visited the properties on March 16 and 17 and found steps blocking access to ground floor condos, inaccessible sidewalks and common areas, as well as curb cuts that were blocked by parking spaces. Mike Laramie, corporate counsel for Pulte, said DRAC failed to notify the company that it still had a problem with design issues at the three complexes before filing the lawsuit.

"You have to question whether they really want to resolve something or they just want to file lawsuits and give the lawsuits to the press," Laramie said.

Allison Copening, a Pulte spokeswoman, said that upon settlement of the 2001 Justice Department case, the developer agreed to send letters to condo owners every year for three years beginning in 2001. The letters informed the owners that there were some violations of federal housing accessibility laws and that the developer would make free repairs upon request.

"We believe we have complied fully with the terms of the agreement that was set forth by the Department of Justice. We have had some homeowners take advantage of that. It was a small percentage that took advantage of that. We haven't received any complaints from homeowners as it pertains to the ADA compliance," Copening said.

An attorney for DRAC has said the agreement does not fully address all of the group's concerns at the complexes and that's why they filed the lawsuit.

"The settlement agreement doesn't really satisfy everything," Richard Armknecht III, said.

In 1997 and 1998 the Utah-based disabled rights group filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleging the complexes had violations such as inaccessible interior doorways. The complaints led to an investigation by the agency in 1998, the lawsuit said.

Investigators found that the three complexes were designed in violation of accessibility laws by having narrow interior doorways, thermostats that were too high, electrical outlets that were too low and improper placement of toilets, the lawsuit said. The three complexes also had inaccessible routes to common areas and a lack of enough accessible parking.

The complaint was referred from HUD to the U.S. Department of Justice for possible litigation in 2000. Separately, in 1998 the justice department settled similar complaints in three other states against Pulte. As an addendum to that settlement the Justice Department entered into a "modification agreement" with Pulte in 2001 to settle complaints filed against the company's Las Vegas complexes.

Armknecht said the Las Vegas agreement wasn't as good as the other agreement, which settled complaints at properties in Illinois, Florida and Virginia.

"It really is substantially less with regards to the Nevada settlement agreement than what was settled in other jurisdictions. What they need to do is bring the housing into compliance with the Fair Housing Act," Armknecht said.