Supreme Court will hear construction case

Monday, May 2, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A near $14 million judgment in a class action construction-defect case against home builders in Las Vegas comes before the Nevada Supreme Court for oral arguments Thursday.

About 200 homeowners in the Village at Craig Ranch were awarded $7.3 million, winning lawyers got $3.5 million and there were other costs for such thing as expert witnesses and court costs.

Robert Maddox, representing the homeowners, is asking the Supreme Court to increase the judgment to $8.4 million or order a new trial.

Daniel Polsenberg, representing Beazer Homes Holdings Corp., maintains it would have cost only $3 million to correct the defects and the fees to the lawyers should also be reduced.

The homeowners complained of inadequate foundations, deficient drainage and improper framing. They say that as a result of expansive soil movement, there was cracking on the homes.

The suit was filed in 2000 and the jury trial started in late 2002. In February 2003, the jury brought back its verdict. It found Beazer negligent but said the company did not breach its implied warranty. It also found the homeowners were 7 percent to blame and reduced the $7.7 million judgment to $7.3 million.

Maddox, in court documents, said the controvery is not whether the homes were defective but rather the extent of the defects.

"Beazer's own experts conceded Craig Ranch was rife with construction defects and code violations," said Maddox in his opening brief.

Maddox said District Judge Allan Earl was wrong when he ruled there should be contributory negligence considered on the part of the homeowners.

Polsenberg, in arguing against the judgment, said Judge Earl should not have accepted the class-action status for the suit. The homes suffered all different types of defects, he said. There were more than 30 different types of complaints and homeowners said they suffered a wide range of damages totalling in some cases up to $180,000.

"Homes are ill suited for class-action treatment," said Polsenberg, arguing for separate trials.

District Judge Mark Denton initially designated the suit as a class action and Judge Earl declined to change that ruling.

Polsenberg said the homeowners ignored warnings to keep water away from the homes. But they landscaped next to the houses and watered, he said.

The Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, in a friend of the court brief by Reno attorney Thomas Drendel in support of the homeowners, said Judge Earl had the discretion to certify a construction defect case as a class action. And Drendel said the judge had the discretion to award the attorney fees, rather than the jury as Polsenberg maintained.