Jury Awards $479,077 to Quake-Hit Homeowners : Northridge: Builder is ordered to pay in negligence suit brought by a couple whose house was severely damaged in January, 1994.

In one of the first Northridge earthquake-related construction lawsuits to be decided by a jury, a contractor who remodeled a house that partially collapsed in the temblor was ordered Friday to pay the owners almost half a million dollars.

During the trial, an attorney for a Northridge couple presented evidence that the builder neglected to anchor the house to its foundation with a dozen hold-down bolts called for in architectural plans, failed to add shear paneling to one long wall, forgot to put in footings for part of the home’s foundation and did not nail in 75 ceiling joists.

As a result, the homeowners’ attorney told jurors, the structural integrity of the home was nothing but a “dangerous illusion” that shattered in the Jan. 17, 1994, earthquake. The epicenter was three miles from the house.

Brian Jeff Grill, a veteran building consultant hired by the homeowners to testify in the case, called it “a structural nightmare . . . one of the worst houses I’ve ever seen.”

The homeowners, Robert and Carla Rawstron, bought the house in the 17000 block of Rayen Street in October, 1991, for $1 million. The previous owners, Ronald and Ida Wright, had commissioned the remodeling job two years earlier--vastly expanding the 30-year-old home to 6,700 square feet of floor space from 2,500 square feet.

The lawsuit contended that the Wrights experienced water damage during storms, but sold the house to the Rawstrons without disclosing their concerns for its integrity.

The Rawstrons soon experienced difficulty with the watertightness of the home, and sued the Wrights and their contractor, Thomas D. Talley, for fraud and negligence in July, 1993.

Six months later, while the case was pending in Los Angeles Superior Court, the January quake struck--revealing far more construction defects under the skin of the home than the Rawstrons expected.

Mark Wapnick, the Rawstrons’ attorney, said the house twisted off its foundation by two inches and its north wall--unanchored to the foundation--collapsed.

The Rawstrons settled out of court with the Wrights, but turned down the contractor’s settlement offer of $75,000, according to Wapnick. They sought $506,000 in their negligence suit against Talley, and Friday were awarded $479,077.

In addition to the missing anchor bolts and shear paneling--which are required by state building codes and provide lateral strength to a structure--the home’s roof sheathing was not nailed around its perimeter, according to Wapnick. Three shear walls also did not run continuously from the foundation to the roof, rendering them useless, the attorney said.

“These folks paid more than $1 million for their house, and it turned into a nightmare,” Wapnick said. “They thought they were going to die.”

Grill, the expert witness, said he is scheduled to testify in several similar cases, and warned that an even stronger earthquake than last year’s could reveal many more serious deficiencies in local home construction.

“It’s like a boat with a hole in it,” he said. “It doesn’t sink until you put it in the water.”

The defendant’s attorney, Bruce Gebersky, declined to comment on the case.

The case has special resonance now that many Southland homeowners are rebuilding their homes. Grill suggested that homeowners gather as much information and references as possible on prospective contractors, and recommended hiring an architect to manage the project to make sure that it is being built according to plans.

Added Wapnick: “The incredible part is that this house passed the city’s inspection.”