Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

courts:

Trial date pushed back in faulty plumbing case

More homebuilders could be added to class action Kitec plumbing suit

Plumbing

Richard Brian

This IPEX water pipe fitting was taken from a Pulte home in Anthem. The corroded fittings can cause declining water pressure and leaks.

Click to enlarge photo

This IPEX water pipe fitting was taken from a Pulte home in Anthem. The corroded fittings can cause declining water pressure and leaks.

Attorneys are rushing to beat the clock in a five-year-old class action lawsuit regarding defective plumbing that could affect 30,000 homes in the valley.

State law requires that cases be brought to trial within five years of filing. The first of several suits alleging that Kitec plumbing fixtures had failed was filed in October 2004.

Working under an Oct. 13 deadline, attorneys today asked District Court Judge Timothy Williams to reschedule an Aug. 10 trial date, saying they’ve discovered more homes with Kitec pipes.

Williams reset the start of the second trial in the Kitec lawsuit to Sept. 29.

The first trial concluded June 12 with jurors finding Majestic Plumbing responsible for replumbing 40 homes in a North Las Vegas neighborhood. The jury awarded $475,000 in damages.

Because that trial only included one defendant, Williams and the attorneys questioned whether it met the requirement of the five-year rule.

The bigger rush is to repair homes that are having their pipes fail while the details are worked out in court, said Bill Coulthard, an attorney who represents the homeowners.

“We are accelerating (the process) because of the problems,” he said.

Homeowners recently reported pipes breaking in houses built by RPS Homes and Pagentry, which have not been officially added to the lawsuit.

Those homeowners meet the requirements to be added to the suit and could receive a share of any settlement, Coulthard said.

The two builders could be included in the suit but probably not in time for the upcoming trial, Coulthard said.

At times, the suit named more than 40 homebuilders, plumbers and Kitec-maker IPEX as being responsible for installing the failing plumbing systems.

Most have since settled but five builders and three plumbers remain.

Stewart Reid, an attorney for Richmond American Homes, said his client is close to reaching a third settlement in the case but needs more time to determine how many houses have the Kitec pipes.

In the previous two settlements, Richmond American paid $10.2 million and $16.5 million for nearly 3,700 homes. Approximately 1,100 more homes are being investigated to determine if they have Kitec, Reid said. They were built as plumbers phased out the use of Kitec systems.

“It’s not an exact science as these plumbers transitioned out of this product into others,” he said.

The lawsuit seeks to recover the full cost of replumbing every home with Kitec and covering any damages that might have occurred when pipes burst.

The suit alleges that Kitec brass alloy fittings corrode and cause blockages that reduce water flow and could potentially break.

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