Condo Owners Collect $10.8 Million for Defects : Courts: Builder of Playa del Rey units is ordered to pay. Two subcontractors also are found at fault.
A West Los Angeles construction firm has been ordered to pay $10.8 million to the owners of defective condominiums in Playa del Rey, in what is believed to be one of the largest verdicts against a Southern California home builder.
A Superior Court jury in Redondo Beach on Friday ordered DSL Construction Inc. to pay the damages to homeowners at the 187-unit Manitoba West project, just north of Los Angeles International Airport.
The award comes to about $58,000 per condo owner, but the money will be controlled by the condominium association, charged with overseeing repairs. Leaky roofs, crumbling floors and rattling pipes have plagued the project for the last 10 years.
As the verdict was read, about 50 homeowners on hand gasped, then whooped and applauded.
“I’m very, very happy,” said Richard Rifelli, president of the Manitoba West Owners Assn. “It’s such a relief to know that we have the money to repair the units.”
DSL owner Don S. Levin and his attorney, Steven Schwartz, declined to comment, but an appeal is expected.
The jury found by a 9-3 majority that the contractor was negligent and built defective condominiums and townhouses.
At the end of the four-month trial, jurors also ruled that two subcontractors should repay DSL for some of the damages.
“That’s a very, very large verdict. It’s the largest I have ever heard of for a residential project,” said Kenneth Willis, a spokesman for the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.
Jurors rejected the builder’s argument that inadequate maintenance by homeowners caused many of the problems since the condos and townhouses were built in 1979 and 1980.
Several homeowners had testified during the trial that faulty construction left them with a nightmarish home life: leaking roofs and plumbing, walls covered with mildew, floors crunching underfoot and crumbling. Walls were poorly insulated and the sounds of neighbors’ stereos and conversations rang throughout the units.
Realtors said the homes each lost at least $35,000 in current market value because of the problems and the lawsuit.
The homeowners’ attorney, Lee Barker, argued that the builders relied on substandard materials and poor workmanship. Nails, for example, were too small and spaced so far apart that the stability of the building was endangered, he said.
Barker asked for $15.1 million in damages, including funds to pay for alternative housing during the six to eight months he estimated it will take to make repairs.
Levin’s lawyers argued that construction plans were approved by the city of Los Angeles and that the work was up to industry standards. One of the attorneys, Thomas Janzen, said homeowners did little to correct problems once they were found. He said that mildewed walls, for instance, resulted from poor housekeeping and not improper ventilation, as the homeowners contended.
The general contractor had also presented evidence against three subcontractors, saying those firms were responsible for any problems.
Jurors agreed, to a point. They ordered Champlin Construction, which built the wood frames, to pay DSL $1.6 million in damages. Davis Roofing Co. was ordered to pay the general contractor $10,000.
