Lawyers Didn’t Do the Shabby Work

* Jonas Goldrich condemns trial lawyers for assisting condo and townhouse owners when they find defects in workmanship and quality of product [“Condominium Losses Become Lawyers’ Gain,” Letters, Nov. 15].

Where I live, there is a large number of developments where problems have come up. For example: gas pipes not properly wrapped and now corroding; light fixtures not even UL-approved; grading done incorrectly, causing water seepage; and roofing put on and not nailed down.

Please tell a layman how to get redress for these problems if the developer does not even want to acknowledge them.

AARON BURSTEIN

San Diego

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* Mr. Goldrich failed to point out some important facts:

First, that the 10-year period within which homeowner associations can sue a developer applies only to hidden defects. These are defects that a person could not reasonably discover, such as the failure of a developer to insert fire blocks inside walls. Defects that are reasonably discoverable have a limitation of three or four years, depending on the claim.

Lawyers specializing in protecting consumers would never advise homeowner groups that they can make money suing developers.

Even if an association prevails in court on every issue, the association must pay expert fees and legal costs, which are rarely fully recoverable. The fact is that defective construction costs homeowners money. Homeowners don’t make money when their building is defective.

Mr. Goldrich states that the system is unfair and against developers. This is not true. In fact, the Building Industry Assn. strongly supported the newly enacted Civil Code Section 1375. This is the most pro-developer law ever approved by the Legislature in the history of the state. It makes suing a developer for construction defects more difficult, more time-consuming and more expensive.

MICHAEL T. CHULAK

Attorney at law

Agoura Hills