The Region - News from Dec. 21, 1986

More than 40 Southern California homeowners, threatened with foreclosure on their homes because they refused to pay for faulty solar heating equipment, won a court order temporarily blocking the sale of their properties. The order, signed by Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Jane D. Myers upon agreement of all parties, gives homeowners a one-month reprieve against the efforts of Central Bank of Walnut Creek to collect on long-past-due loans for rooftop solar systems. The affected homeowners are members of a coalition of 400 solar system buyers who filed a $100-million class-action suit against dozens of solar contractors and lenders, claiming that they received faulty equipment at inflated prices. Many homeowners said they did not realize they were signing second trust deeds on their homes when they took out loans to buy the equipment.