Two Recent Trial Court Decisions

By Kirk H. Hays

Juries in two recent trials have issued verdicts on construction law cases. Ensely v. Forecast Residential Sales of Arizona (Maricopa CV2007-023466) was a six-homeowner lawsuit that alleged damage to their homes due to soil movement, window leaks and stucco deficiencies. The plaintiffs requested about $90,000 per home for repairs. The jury awarded between $14,743 and $27,780 per home for a total verdict of $122,508. Both sides of the dispute declared victory; Forecast because the verdict is significantly less than the requested relief and the plaintiffs because they beat Forecast’s settlement offers prior to trial.

For the geotechnical soil movement issue, the verdicts ranged from $7,723 to $19,100 per home. For the window claim the damages were $1,400 to $3,080 per home. For the stucco issues it was $4,480 to $9,240 per home.

A significant issue now is the allocation of attorney’s fees and costs. The plaintiffs reportedly plan to submit a request for about three times the verdict amount in attorney’s fees and costs—meaning this case cost them about three times more than they recovered! The award is discretionary with the Court, who might consider the low verdicts as a defense win. A low attorney’s fee award may result in the plaintiff’s recovering very little or maybe even going in the hole on this lawsuit.

The second case is Landmark Building Consultants v. Vic’s Plumbing Inc. (CV 2006-016925). Vic’s installed gas and water lines for Landmark that allegedly later leaked. Vic’s claimed that only one leak was brought to its attention and it quickly fixed it and that the unreported leaks were caused by other trades. Vic’s also claimed that if the work had not been installed correctly, the City of Scottsdale’s building inspector would not have signed off on the work. Landmark asked for $29,452 in damages. The jury found for Vic’s on the gas leak but in favor of Landmark on the waterline leak in the amount of $19,015.95.

For more information on these cases contact Kirk H. Hays at khays@holmwright.com or (480) 961-0586.