Support HOBB - Become a Sustaining Member |
|
|
Legend - Latest News
Arizona isn't doing enough to protect consumers |
Saturday, 05 April 2003 |
Contractor watchdog faulted
The state agency charged with watching over construction in Arizona isn't doing enough to protect consumers, according to a report from the Auditor General's Office.The audit said the agency needs to fix a $5.5 million deficit in the recovery fund, which helps people who lose money to licensed contractors. A residential builder pays $300 initially to the fund and then $150 annually. |
Read more...
|
|
Dawn Richardson Family Story of a Toxic Home |
Friday, 13 December 2002 |
David Weekley Homes' Hypocritical Donations Incite Families Hurt by Homebuilder
David Weekley Homes has hurt many families making them homeless, hurting them financially, and sometimes even injuring them physically. In the meantime, they have just given $50,000 to a national charity that provides homes to the temporarily homeless. This is beyond hypocritical - it is cruel and egregious that they would take hardworking families' money and build them houses so full of construction defects and contamination that they are unsafe to live in and then turn the other way refusing to take FULL responsibility for the economic damages, injuries, and pain and suffering they have caused. |
Read more...
|
|
Builder shortcuts hazardous to new homes |
Sunday, 29 September 2002 |
Faulty construction, mold-attracting materials, builder shortcuts hazardous to new homes Willard and Cinda Thomas say their dream house almost killed them. Only four years after moving into the 3,000-square-foot model home in Keller, Cinda had joint pain to the point where she could barely walk. Willard became weak, depressed, asthmatic and arthritic...Mold may be the last thing home buyers think of on moving day. But home inspectors and some homeowners have found that new homes are not exempt from sometimes devastating mold infestation. Faulty building techniques, builder shortcuts during the construction boom and some materials that serve as food for mold are being blamed for mold moving into some new homes as fast as the new owners do. |
Read more...
|
|
Richardson vs. Weekley, Mold and More |
Friday, 13 September 2002 |
New Weapons In The War On Toxic Mold
In March, the Richardsons sued the builder, David Weekley Homes, claiming that their negligence during the construction process created the optimal environment for the growth of toxic molds and compounds, many of which produce poisonous chemicals that cause chronic and acute health problems, including cancer. |
Read more...
|
|
Fine Print of Arbitration |
Tuesday, 20 August 2002 |
Read the Fine Print
"We had no idea that by signing a contract we were giving up the right to ever have our story heard by a jury," says homeowner Dawn Richardson. "You never imagine that the people building your home are trying to hurt you." In March 2001, Dawn and her husband Scott filed suit against David Weekley Homes, claiming their new $300,000 Austin house was contaminated with toxic mold resulting from a water leak that began the previous year, just days after they moved in. Though the family spent only five weeks living in their new home, Dawn Richardson says both she and her young daughter suffered neurological damage that physicians diagnosed as environmental toxic exposure, which may be irreversible...Reggie James, director of Consumers Union's Southwest Regional Office, compared binding arbitration to a bullet: It does the same amount of harm to consumers whether they see it coming or not. |
Read more...
|
|
Consumer Fairness Act of 2002 (Introduced in House) HR 5162 IH 107th CONGRESS |
|
Consumer Fairness Act of 2002 (Introduced in House) HR 5162 IH 107th CONGRESS |
|
The arbitration agreement in the GoodwinÃs homeowners insurance policy left them homeless and financ |
Wednesday, 14 August 2002 |
On April 26, 2001 an 18-wheeler ran off of I-30 and crashed into our home when its driver had a heart attack. We had lived in our new home for only one day when the accident occurred, which rendered it uninhabitable. The truck driver's insurance refused to pay for the repairs to our home claiming that the driver's heart attack was an act of God, and therefore, not covered. Link: http://www.texaswatch.org/hallofshame_share_consumerlaw_story.asp?insurid=135 |
|
The arbitration agreement in the GoodwinÃs homeowners insurance policy left them homeless and financ |
Wednesday, 14 August 2002 |
On April 26, 2001 an 18-wheeler ran off of I-30 and crashed into our home when its driver had a heart attack. We had lived in our new home for only one day when the accident occurred, which rendered it uninhabitable. The truck driver's insurance refused to pay for the repairs to our home claiming that the driver's heart attack was an act of God, and therefore, not covered. Link: http://www.texaswatch.org/hallofshame_share_consumerlaw_story.asp?insurid=135 |
|
Dawn Richardson on the hight cost of builder defects |
Tuesday, 13 August 2002 |
Deficient building practices cited in high home insurance rates
In May, Richardson, who has filed a lawsuit against the builder, testified in front of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Business and Industry and has also testified for the Civil Services Committee. "I've talked to so many home owners and it's simply a really pervasive problem," she said. "We had pieces of wood in the homes that were put in moldy during the construction process." An uneducated work force, a premium placed on affordability, and a lack of statewide regulation are some of the factors officials cite in home problems that lead to increased insurance claims. "We need to build affordable housing, but the ramifications of affordability are costing us tons of money as a society in terms of insurance premiums, maintenance costs, water penetration costs, and lawsuits," said the national program manager of a Collin County building supplies company who spoke under the condition of anonymity. "Water penetration is caused by a dysfunctional process that uses poor quality materials and often has design flaws." |
Read more...
|
|
Richardson's defective home in the news |
Tuesday, 13 August 2002 |
Deficient building practices cited in high home insurance rates
Dawn and Scott Richardson received an unwanted glimpse into the homebuilding and insurance industries after being forced out of their $300,000 Austin-area home last year. Just five weeks after construction in 2001, Richardson said the home had become so contaminated with toxic mold and chemicals that she and her baby daughter began suffering health problems that included nausea, neurological problems, and allergic reactions... And as a pitched political battle continues over how to remedy soaring statewide home owner's insurance rates, some building officials and consumer activists have begun to echo Richardson's sentiment, pointing to deficient construction practices as a significant factor in insurance rates that have doubled and in some cases tripled in the past year.
|
Read more...
|
|
| << Start < Prev 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 Next > End >>
| Results 2784 - 2794 of 2844 |
|
|