Developers Agree to Pay $8.9 Million to Homeowners

Developers of a Beverly Hills condominium complex have reached an $8.9-million settlement with homeowners who maintained that the buildings were defective.

The Somerset Homeowners Association sued Goldrich & Kest Industries and Prestige Homes Inc. in 1991, saying that their Villa Somerset condos had water leaks and faulty air, ventilation and heating systems.

Representatives of the defendants were not available for immediate comment on the agreement, the terms of which were made final Tuesday in documents filed in Santa Monica Superior Court.

The settlement was reached six weeks into a jury trial, said plaintiff’s attorney Lee Barker.

Barker said most of the settlement will be used for repairs at the 102-unit complex on the 200 block of North Swall Drive, which was built in 1987.

The rest will be used by homeowners--many of whom are elderly or retired--who will be displaced while the repairs are made, the attorney said.