Bob Perry bankrolls GOP governors group
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry leads all givers so far this year to the Republican Governors Association.  Gov. rick Perry (no relation) is finance chair of the GOP group. Rick Perry's reelection campaign. Last year, when Perry was chairman of the governor's group, Bob Perry escalated his giving to the RGA -- $2 million. Bob Perry made headlines recently when a jury awarded $58 million to a retirement-age Mansfield couple over a defective Perry-built home that the homebuilder has refused for a decade to fix.

AP Wire: No settlement in $58M judgment against homebuilder
Mediation efforts were unsuccessful Monday between an elderly Fort Worth-area couple and the politically powerful Houston homebuilder who lost a $58 million judgment to them, the couple's lawyers said. Van Shaw and Dan Hagood, attorneys for Robert and Jane Cull of Mansfield, said they failed to reach an agreement with lawyers for Perry Homes owner Bob Perry, once considered one of the nation's largest political donors. A Fort Worth judge had ordered the mediation to avoid appeals after the $58 million verdict against Perry and a home warranty company earlier this month.  Justices on the Texas Supreme Court each received political contributions from Perry and his family totaling more than $260,000.

Jury awards $58 million to Mansfield couple in home builder lawsuit
The Culls filed suit in December 2000 in an attempt to get Perry Homes to fix structural and foundation problems that started shortly after they moved into their 2,900-square-foot, four-bedroom house near Walnut Creek Country Club in 1996.The case became politically charged as it moved through the judicial process. Perry Homes is owned by Bob Perry, who has contributed heavily to judicial candidates and political action committees in Texas. Warranty Underwriters Insurance Co. in Houston is also a defendant. "It became more of a mission and less about the home," Cull said. "We're still in that battle."

Spokesman: $51M verdict in Perry Homes lawsuit is ‘jackpot justice’
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A spokesman for a politically influential Houston homebuilder is calling a $51 million Tarrant County jury verdict in a consumer lawsuit against the builder "jackpot justice."  Anthony Holm is a spokesman for Perry Homes and major political contributor Bob Perry. Holm calls the award to Robert and Jane Cull of Mansfield "equivalent to every single resident in Texas depositing $2 into the lawyer’s bank account" and said it would be appealed.  The Culls sued Perry Homes over problems with their home’s foundation and construction. The Monday verdict came after the Texas Supreme Court overturned an $800,000 arbitration award. Holm says Perry offered to buy back the house at full price, but the Culls refused the offer. Calls to the Culls and their attorney, Daniel K. Hagood, weren’t returned Tuesday. Perry has given millions of dollars to state and federal candidates.

Texas Watch: Jury Sends Message: Corporate Abuse Will Not Be Tolerated
15 years ago, Bob and Jane Cull bought what they thought was their dream retirement home in Mansfield, Texas.  The home – built by Perry Homes – started to show signs of foundation failure and other major structural defects shortly after they moved in.  Perry Homes refused to repair the defects, forcing the Culls to take their builder to arbitration where he was ordered to pay $800,000. Rather than simply comply, Perry Homes appealed the decision.  After years of languishing at the Texas Supreme Court – which has a long history of forcing consumers to accept binding arbitration – the state high court eventuallyvacated the arbitrators judgment on a 5-4 vote in 2008, sending the case back to state court.  All nine members of the state’s high court had received political contributions from Bob Perry, the nation’s largest individual campaign contributor.  Perry thought he could simply wear out the Culls by dragging them through appeal after appeal.  He underestimated the resolve of individuals who know their cause is right and just.

Political moneyman Bob Perry ordered to pay $51 million
A jury has ordered Houston homebuilder Bob Perry to pay $51 million to an elderly Mansfield couple who fought for a decade over a defective house that Perry Homes refused to fix. Perry is the biggest campaign contributor in Texas and a major figure in so-called tort reform championed by Gov. Rick Perry (no relation) to limit lawsuits against business. Bob Perry has resisted paying the couple for a decade, instead taking the couple's case case through the courts. Bob and Jane Cull say Perry wouldn't fix their house and so went to arbitration, where they won an $800,000 judgment. Perry refused to pay. He appealed for years through the court system until the Texas Supreme Court finally sent the case back to district court in Fort Worth. Every member of the high court had received campaign contributions from Perry..."It feels like a modern day David and Goliath triumph. Certainly, God had a hand in this justice, said Jane Cull's sister, Judy Noble. "At last, truth and right trumps power and money.

Wealthy Homebuilder and Powerful Political Campaign Contributor Bob Perry found legally responsible for construction defects and punitive damages
“Justice has been served.  We are grateful and in a state of shock” said, Jane Cull after the verdict was read...Finally the Culls have been vindicated.  Until Texas Lawmaker pass legislation to regulate and license the building industry, powerful Tycoons like Bob Perry have no incentive to build homes right the first time or treat their customer with respect or stand behind the homes they build” said, Janet Ahmad, National President of Home Owners for Better Building . See: Court Decision Document 1 -  Court Decision Document 2

Another view re Citizen Leader PAC
Here’s a big reason why the attack on Smith looks fishy: Smith played a critical role in the unraveling of an outrageous abuse of the public trust — the Texas Residential Construction Commission.Largely at the behest of homebuilder Bob Perry (who, with his wife, donated $25,000 to Cason and $5,000 to Smith in this race), the Legislature created a new agency [in 2003--pb] to referee home construction defect disputes and imposed a tax on new homes. But the bill’s fine print knocked out the state’s Deceptive Trade Practice Act and all implied warranties, replacing them with rules drawn up by a stacked commission, whose membership included Perry’s general counsel. (Smith voted against the builder’s bill.) Responding to constituent concerns, Smith asked then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn to investigate. Her report documented the one-sided nature of the agency and its dispute resolution process, and that began a chain of events that led to the agency’s abolition by the Legislature. In other words, Smith blew the whistle on an unfair gravy train for homebuilders, and these attacks have the appearance of revenge politics.

Pawlenty delivered Texan's $100K check to Ala. GOP
Minnessota Gov. Tim Pawlenty says the $100,000 check he delivered to the Alabama GOP on Friday came from Bod Perry, a Houston homebuilder and major Republican donor.  Perry was instrumental in Pawlenty's 2006 re-election in Minesota. Perry contributed $500,000 to A Stronger America, which ran ads against Pawlenty's Democratic opponent late in the campaign.

Bob the Builder Invests In Judges As Lemon-Home Trial Begins
The Texas Supreme Court overturned two lower courts in May 2008 to gut an $800,000 award that an arbitrator levied against the justices’ top individual contributor: Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. Perry gave the nine justices a total of $76,250 before the court gutted the arbitrator’s award and ordered homeowners Bob and Jane Cull to pursue their lemon-home case against Perry Homes in state court, instead.  As the resulting trial in the decade-old Cull v. Perry Homes case heats up in a Fort Worth state district court, it is time to revisit Bob Perry’s judicial influence. 
Read more...