Lennar Bakersfield Lawsuit

By GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com | Monday, Apr 14 2008 6:09 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Apr 15 2008 8:37 AM

It wasn't long after Steven and Marsha Bishop moved into their new Lennar home on Chinook Falls Lane that black mold started forming because of an improperly hung French door. That was the beginning of a long series of problems ranging from a sink hole to cracks in the foundation, a roof leak, other mold problems and many more issues of poor workmanship, they said. Marsha holds a picture of one of the first problems they had with mold.

From the day they moved into their brand-new northwest Bakersfield home three years ago, Steven and Marsha Bishop have been dogged by problems — cracks, leaks, mold and more.

So when a lawyer’s letter recently showed up asking if they’d like to join a lawsuit against builder Lennar Homes, the couple didn’t hesitate. Owners of 88 other nearby homes are also listed on the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges repairs could cost more than $100,000 per home.

The complaint, first filed in February and updated last week, is one of several in Kern where a group of homeowners is suing a national or regional homebuilder in the wake of the recent real estate boom.

Lennar hasn’t yet received formal notification of the case, court records show.

"I don’t know anything about it," said Gary Grumbles, president of Lennar’s Bakersfield division, on Friday. Lennar’s local and state units are named in the complaint.

Ben Llaneta, lead attorney for the homeowners, said Monday Lennar will get legal notification by mid-week.

The law firm behind the case, Milstein, Adelman & Kreger LLP in Santa Monica, specializes in construction defect litigation, among other things. Senior partner Fred Adelman said it is currently the largest firm in California handling single-family construction defect lawsuits.

FLAWS IN HOMES

Most of the two dozen streets with homes listed in the complaint wind through the Westlake neighborhood west of Calloway Drive and south of Snow Road.

The subdivision, near the RiverLakes golf course, was originally a project of the former Coleman Homes, a longtime Bakersfield company. Lennar, one of the country’s largest homebuilders, bought Coleman in 2003.

Four roads named in the suit lie further west, near the intersection of Allen and Reina roads, in the Nottingham and Montelena neighborhoods.

The subdivisions listed in the suit were built almost entirely in the last five years.

In the Westlake area, buyers paid between $139,000 to $580,000, according to records from First American Real Estate Solutions, a Santa Ana-based firm that tracks property sales nationwide.

The Bishops bought their four-bedroom home on Chinook Falls Drive in May 2005.

Troubles started immediately, they said.

"You cannot believe the headaches I’ve had with this house," Marsha Bishop said Thursday, the same day an inspector from the law firm stopped by.

First were the leaky French doors in the master bedroom.

Rain drenched the carpet, leaving mold. A seeping toilet installed on a tilting floor in the children’s bathroom also left mold, the couple said. The family spent days in a hotel while the house underwent mold treatment.

Other problems followed — foundation cracks in the garage, wall cracks, a faulty dishwasher, interior nails popping out, an irrigation system that flooded sidewalk landscaping.

The sinkhole under the garage was particularly troubling.

"When the dirt’s collapsing under your house, it kind of concerns you," said Steven Bishop, a 17-year employee of the county. His wife stays home with the family’s five children.

For several months in spring 2006, the Bishops were so frustrated they hung a banner from the garage warning others not to buy from Lennar.

STILL LOOKING

The lawsuit claims "faulty soil compaction" is responsible for some damage to affected homes.

The dirt’s movement cracked foundations and walls, the suit alleges.

The complaint alleges defects impacting almost everything in and around a house — from plumbing to ceramic tiles, drywall to appliances — resulting from shoddy construction and substandard components.

Llaneta, the lead attorney, said the faultily compacted soil is a construction issue rather than something wrong with the dirt under the houses.

The law firm is currently completing a full investigation of the sites, Llaneta said.

Even though owners of almost 90 homes are currently listed as plaintiffs, the case is not a class-action lawsuit, said Adelman, the law firm’s senior partner.

A class-action suit would impact neighborhood homes whether owners wanted to be included or not, he said, while the existing suit will only include homeowners who sign on voluntarily.

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