Hillside Instability Damages Homes
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“The Santee City Council relaxed several city guidelines when it approved the project. One exemption bypassed third-party approval of soil studies, which are used to determine the extent of grading for home foundations.”
12 more file suit against builder
Santee homeowners fault construction
By Jose Luis Jiménez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 26, 2002
A dozen additional homeowners have filed a class-action lawsuit against Michael Grant for building and selling homes they contend are literally splitting apart in the Prospect Hills development in Santee.
The residents accuse the developer of shoddy construction, negligence and failure to honor a warranty. They also accuse the builder of failing to make repairs after they complained.
Grant could not be reached for comment. But in court papers, he denied the allegations.
The homeowners cite a long list of problems with the residences, which were built in the 1990s. Those problems include the interior walls separating from ceilings, a 3-to-6-inch split in the concrete patios and poor drainage that causes water to collect on the properties, said attorney Mark Raftery, who represents the homeowners.
The suit, filed in July and amended earlier this month, seeks at least $570,000 in damages for each homeowner. The dollar figure accounts for the costs to repair the home, the cost of investigating the source of the problems and the loss in property value. The damages could total in the millions.
"There are significant cracks in the drywall of the homes," Raftery said. "In one home, you can look up into the attic."
Many of the subcontractors who worked on the development have been pulled into the case, which is still in the discovery phase. A trial date has been set for September 2003.
The dozen homeowners joined their neighbors who filed a similar suit, with the same law firm, in September 2001. The plaintiffs in both cases total about half of the homeowners in the development, according to court records.
Raftery said the problems are caused by the movement of the soil beneath the homes. He argues that the developer did a poor job grading the property, which sits on a hillside. More tests on the soil are scheduled for early next year.
The Santee City Council relaxed several city guidelines when it approved the project. One exemption bypassed third-party approval of soil studies, which are used to determine the extent of grading for home foundations. The city has not been sued.
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Jose Jimenez: (619) 593-4964; jose.jimenez@uniontrib.com