A Playa del Rey Condo Suit Against Developer Now in Jury’s Hands

Arguing that shoddy construction led to leaky pipes, crumbling floors and units so poorly insulated that neighbors could hear each others’ daily activities, a lawyer for residents of a Playa del Rey condominium told a jury this week that the builder of the complex should be forced to pay $15.1 million in damages.

Attorney Lee Barker asked a Superior Court jury in Redondo Beach to order developer Don S. Levin and his company, DSL Construction Inc., to pay for massive repairs at the 187-unit Manitoba West development, just north of Los Angeles International Airport.

Barker addressed the jury at the end of a four-month civil trial, stemming from a lawsuit filed in 1984. “We are asking you to make them pay to make these homes safe, decent and habitable,” Barker said.

The jury began its deliberations Thursday, after rebuttal arguments by lawyers for Levin. The same jury must first decide whether the construction was substandard and, if it was, who is to blame, the contractor or three subcontractors.

The subcontractors, who are being in turn sued by Levin, also argued this week that they are not responsible for any shortcomings at Manitoba West.

All of the builders, in turn, said the condominiums’ problems were caused by normal wear and tear and poor maintenance by homeowners.

But Barker said the problems began right from the start of construction of the condominiums in 1979. According to Barker:

Bathrooms were built without windows or proper vents so that mildew thrived on walls, which were not properly waterproofed.

Plumbing was not insulated from the building frame so that the sounds of running water reverberated through most of the units.

The thinnest and cheapest copper piping was used, so that pipes leaked in nearly half the units. As a result, floors and walls rotted or warped because of excessive moisture.

Substandard nails were used and spaced so far apart that the stability of the building was endangered.

Walls along hallways were not insulated for sound.

A concrete substitute called Gypcrete, which was poured on floorboards, crumbled because it was poorly mixed and applied in too thin a layer.

Buildings were not constructed according to plans, nor up to the Los Angeles City Code, making them a potential hazard in the event of a fire or earthquake, Barker said.

The attorney argued that insulation was so poor throughout Manitoba West that homeowners continually worry that neighbors can hear them cooking, cleaning, going to the bathroom and making love.

He mocked some of the developer’s suggestions for repairing problems, including the proposal of one defense expert that damaged Gypcrete could be found simply by walking over floors and listening for crunching.

“None of the homeowners are going to be satisfied with a fat man doing the Manitoba shuffle,” Barker said. “That’s not going to work.”

He said the floors need to be extensively rebuilt, not just patched, as the developer’s lawyers suggested.

Real estate agents have estimated that Manitoba West units lost more than $35,000 in value each because of the lawsuit.

Levin’s lawyers said Manitoba West was built to acceptable industry standards.

“They should not be measured by a standard of perfection,” attorney Thomas Janzen told the jury, “but by a standard of reasonableness for the industry.

“Even when construction met the code, (homeowners) said that wasn’t good enough yet, that they had to meet a higher standard,” he said.

Rebutting Barker’s argument, Janzen said that bathroom ventilation plans used at Manitoba West were approved by the city of Los Angeles. Mildew was caused because of poor cleaning and maintenance by residents, he said.

All insulation, nails and pipes met building standards and were properly installed, Janzen said. Nails were correctly spaced, on average, even if there were occasionally gaps greater than allowed by code.

The Gypcrete floor was damaged in spots, requiring patches, but not an entirely new floor, as suggested by homeowners, Janzen said.

The defense lawyer said homeowners had stalled in making repairs, perhaps in an effort to bolster their lawsuit.

“It’s simply not reasonable to expect a developer to correct problems that one recognized and failed to take reasonable measures to correct,” Janzen said.

Janzen said repairs should cost $1 million at most.

If the jury finds that there were problems with the construction, Janzen said, it should hold three subcontractors responsible--Western States Gypsum Inc., which poured the Gypcrete floor; Champlin Construction, which built the frames for the condominiums and Davis Roofing Co., which installed the roofs.

Lawyers for each of the subcontractors insisted that they had completed their work properly and should not be held liable.