Courtroom Fight Ahead Over Blame for Water-Damaged Homes : Lawsuit: Owners of 253 condominiums in Laguna Niguel are seeking damages from developers and contractors for unstable foundations and leaky roofs.
Even as the beleaguered residents of Laguna Sur Villas spent the stormy week bracing for more water damage to their homes, dozens of attorneys were meeting in a Santa Ana courtroom to begin proceedings on a sprawling lawsuit that pits the 253 homeowners against developers and more than 90 contractors.
While Superior Court Judge James L. Smith dealt Thursday with the logistics of the huge suit--he heard a motion to set up a special depository for the tens of thousands of documents tied to the case--half a dozen Laguna Sur homeowners listened and wondered aloud if their homes would last as long as the legal proceedings.
“I get up every morning and go and look and see if everybody is still where they’re supposed to be, if everybody’s house is still standing,” said Pat Aston, whose carpets grow soggy during rain showers. “We’re lucky, our place is still livable. Some of the others aren’t.”
The homeowners chipped in $4,000 each for legal fees in the hope of recouping some of their losses on the homes, built in the late 1980s. They bring to court a lengthy list of construction problems both big and small, from unstable foundations and missing fire walls to cracking tiles and leaky roofs.
The worst problem has been water invading the $400,000 to $1-million condominiums, located between Pacific Island Drive and Aliso/Wood Canyons Regional Park.
“Every time it rains the phone rings off the hook,” said Audrey Cox, a resident who has acted as a clearinghouse for complaints. Doors swollen shut, ceilings sagging with water, even water dripping from electrical sockets are among the problems that have the homeowners rolling up carpets and putting their beds on blocks, Cox said.
Although the Thursday session was only a pretrial effort to organize the myriad parties and attorneys involved, Cox said resident interest was high.
“Everybody feels better knowing what’s going on,” Cox said. “I think the people up here are optimistic that we are going to prevail in court. They’re just very depressed to experience these things. And they are frustrated that often they have to use a Band-Aid approach on the problems because some of them just don’t have the money to fix things.” The suit seeks damages from the chief developer, Homes by Polygon, along with Hon Development Corp. and the partnerships that conceived Laguna Sur Villas. Also named are a lengthy list of sub-contractors who handled electrical work, drywall installation and plumbing.
Polygon contended in a counter-complaint that the ailing homes sustained their damage after construction because of poor maintenance or the actions of residents.
The homeowners and Polygon met in a different arena last week when the developer sought release of a bond posted for Laguna Sur street improvements at the Tuesday night meeting of the Laguna Niguel City Council. The council voted to postpone its decision so it could investigate residents’ claims that the road work was never completed.
Typically, such a bond is returned when the government agency decides a developer has completed their proposals for a subdivision improvement. The homeowners and their attorney, Robert Goff, urged the council to hold up the bond, saying there are ditches forming from water runoff along Laguna Sur curbs.
Also, resident Paul Dorris said, a sealing process was never performed on the street surfaces, meaning, in effect, that Polygon never finished the work tied to the bond. He urged the council to lend its weight to the homeowners’ battle.
“We have an utter disaster,” Dorris told council members. “We’ve been nuked by Polygon.”
But council members said that holding up the bond’s release would be inappropriate if motivated merely by a desire to help the residents, whose problems lay elsewhere. If Polygon has completed the work, the course of action will be clear, Councilman Mark J. Goodman said.
“I want us to do the right thing . . . we can’t do this just to be punitive,” he said.
City Manager Timothy J. Casey said Friday that research showed Polygon did indeed complete the roads to the satisfaction of county inspectors and that the company had agreed to offset the ditch damage. He said there is no evidence to support the residents’ contention that a sealing process was skipped.
While their attempt to win arguments over the bonding apparently will not go their way, residents are looking to the court case as the way to end the deluge of bad luck and water that has ruined what for many were to be dream homes.
“It’s been two years now, and we’re still waiting,” Cox said. “The people who live here don’t like that the legal system takes so long, but they’re looking for solutions. They’re chagrined because it has taken two years to get this moving, but they’re not going to give up now.”
