Meet Big Business' Favorite Granny
US Chamber of Commerce Granny: Her winnings? A whopping $281, plus the arbitrator's fee. Kruse concludes that without arbitration, "The normal person just wouldn't be able to do that. Consumer Avocate's Texas grandmother Jordan Fogal testified before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law about the new house she and her husband purchased in 2002 for $360,000...home needed $150,000 worth of repairs...The arbitrator came from the American Arbitration Association, a private group preselected by the builder. As a private justice system, AAA charged Fogal for every last piece of paper, meeting, and subpoena generated in arbitration, not to mention the arbitrator's time, which ran as much as $475 an hour... In 2006, the arbitrator awarded the Fogals a mere $40,000, even after finding that the builder had engaged in fraud. Adding insult to injury, she then ordered the Fogals to pay the builder $14,000 for some of its legal fees for the trouble they caused the builder.

KB Homes Announces Fire Sale
Representatives from White Residential and KB Homes refused comment on Friday when asked if corners were cut in an effort to speed up construction.  Industry experts have speculated that the structure might be condemned due to shoddy workmanship. See news reports

Editorial: Texas courts' credibility problem
Nothing underscores this point better than the May 2 Texas Supreme Court decision favoring Perry Homes over homeowners Jane and Robert Cull. The court's decision, overturning two lower courts' rulings to compensate the Culls for a defective home, probably will be debated for years. But what isn't debatable is that the founder of Perry Homes, Bob Perry, is a major donor to the campaigns of the Supreme Court's justices. He, his family and their political action committees have donated more than $250,000 to the nine justices – all Republicans – including those who dissented in the Cull case.

Half-built homes becoming eyesores
In one Collin County neighborhood the weeds are growing and residents are growing impatient. It’s been 3 months since Buescher Homes, the large builder, went bankrupt. The fallout: half-built homes and now code compliance issues. But Frisco is reacting. They will mow 70 unsightly yards Monday after putting a lien on each property to get it done.