GlenFed to Pay $18.75 Million in Condo Suit

In what may be the largest total settlement for a construction-defect case, Glendale Federal Bank agreed to pay $18.75 million for its role in the development of a 267-unit condominium project in San Juan Capistrano. The deal comes four months after the Mesa Vista North Townhomes Owners Assn. was paid $7.29 million by Orange-based CCL Realty Inc., builders of 57 of the units, and a month after an Anaheim subcontractor, CDR Concrete, agreed to pay $500,000. In all, the association has won settlements totaling $26.54 million. The bank’s settlement was reached about a week before the case was scheduled to be heard in court. The association’s suit charged that the project’s foundations had cracked from porous concrete, the result of a mixture that contained 50% more water than it should have. Condo owners said so much water leaked through the foundations that wood floors buckled. As a result, some foundations tilted as much as 4 inches, causing drywall to crack and preventing doors and windows from closing properly.