On home defect legislation, lobbyists went to the wire
Construction defect settlements are governed by Chapter 40 in Nevada statutes, and builders have grown to hate it. They seethe as each new defect notice, or “Chapter 40 notice,” arrives by mail or courier... And then there were the feds. In an ongoing investigation, the FBI appears to be looking into whether homeowner associations and their elections have been corrupted by businesses — including possibly construction defect law firms — so they could bring suits against builders and win those guaranteed legal fees...To scrap Chapter 40... The net result of eliminating Chapter 40, and Wadhams’ real goal, was to all but eliminate construction defect costs for builders....Builders would then force homebuyers to sign contracts that protect them from liability...A builder lobbyist was open about why they walked away with nothing...

Obama Fails to End Kangaroo Courts for Investors
Requests for arbitration hearings are up 85 percent so far this year at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority...Too bad it’s just as likely that the same chumps who fell for Wall Street’s array of misleading products are headed straight into a justice system that will take them for a second ride.  More than half the investors who go through a Wall Street arbitration get nothing at all, and those who do win get about half what they claim to have lost. Once they are in a hearing room, investors typically face a panel of three judges that includes someone from the very industry that got them into the mess in the first place -- Wall Street.

Pre-Dispute Binding Arbitration Clauses Perpetuate Injustice
When someone is wronged by another, he or she expects to find recourse in our justice system. When a corporation takes advantage of a consumer, that person often takes solace in the fact that she will have her day in court. More and more, however, these hopes and expectations are never realized. Victims are shocked to learn that they have contractually signed away their right to go to court. Pre-dispute mandatory binding arbitration agreements represent a fundamentally unfair method for holding corporations responsible for their wrongdoings. Consumers and employees are kept in the dark as to their rights, and they are not free to bargain for a better deal. Instead, they must "take it or leave it" and run the risk of facing a potentially biased tribunal who will decide the outcome of their case.

Public Citizen says rules tilt playing field toward builders
A national consumer advocacy organization is urging attorneys general in 17 states, including Georgia, to enforce bans on mandatory arbitration clauses often used by the home building industry... One metro Atlantan who agrees with the group is Marietta resident Greg Cole. He says construction problems at his $429,000, 3,400-square-foot house led to cracks, leaks and mold that sickened the whole family. They went to binding arbitration with John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, as the home warranty required, but Cole said the house has not been fixed and continues to deteriorate. His family lives elsewhere.

Town To Pay Couple Over Damages To Home
The town has been ordered to pay $14,615 to a couple who claimed in a lawsuit that the town was responsible for damages to their home because officials failed to follow its building codes... The August 2006 lawsuit claimed that the town, Public Works Director Richard Kelsey and Stephen Giarratana, who was then building inspector, were responsible for flooding and erosion damages and other problems at their home...Since the builder David Fugge, could not be located, the couple was granted $30,000 from the Connecticut New Home Construction Guarantee Fund.

KEYE Investigates: city workers spend time at bowling alley during work
How would you like to spend several hours of your workday at a bowling alley or bbq restaurant? KEYE found some City of Austin employees doing just that. As investigative reporter Nanci Wilson shows us - they are being paid with your tax dollars.  See Investigative Report

Investigates Follow Up: Austin addresses city inspectors issues
One of the scandals that rocked Austin City Hall recently was a KEYE investigation into how some city building inspectors spend their time on the clock and use city take-home vehicles. The story sparked a city investigation, calling for a closer watch on workers. Austin "I think that the behavior that I witnessed in the news coverage was absolutely disturbing and unacceptable,” City Manager Mark Ott said. “So we're very focused on making sure that that kind of behavior doesn't occur in the future -- and people are focused on doing their job and doing a full day's work."

City of Austin paying for some employees daily out of town commute
When fuel prices soared past $4 per gallon this summer, it prompted most drivers to take a serious look at the time they spend on the road. Many downsized their vehicles, considered carpooling or made fewer trips. So, why didn’t the City of Austin Watershed Protection and Development Review Department (WPDR) opt for any of these cost saving measures? One residential inspector drives his city truck back and forth to his home in McDade. McDade is in Lee County, on the other side of Bastrop. It’s a 359 miler per week commute, but it doesn’t cost the inspector a dime. It’s courtesy of the City of Austin taxpayers.

Riverside official loses early round in building dispute
Riverside City Councilman Frank Schiavone and his former custom-homebuilding business partner are personally liable for fraud and negligence in the construction of a Riverside home and a second structure in the back yard, an arbitrator has tentatively ruled... Melgarejo alleged that a number of defects in the two buildings emerged after construction, including improper plumbing that caused sewage to back up into sinks, toilets, bathtubs and the yard; water seepage through window frames, sliding doors and the roof; the growth of mold; and cracking in the buildings' drywall and stucco. Another allegation was for fraud - for building aguesthouse behind the main house without obtaining the proper city permits for it and for its sewage system.

ExpressNews: TRCC reveals its plan to close down
The agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled over the next 14 months ... l Aug. 31... the agency starts a yearlong wind down of its operations. The Sunset Advisory Commission staff last year recommended abolishing the agency, in part because of the inability of the agency to force builders to repair shoddy construction work. Homeowners were forced to go through the agency before going to court, but didn't trust it, the staff report said. “No other regulatory agency has a program with such a potentially devastating effect on consumers' ability to seek their own remedies,” it said.In September, Texas reverts to the pre-TRCC law, the Residential Construction Liability Act, which limited damages homeowners could seek and gave builders the right to repair poor construction.

End mapped out for Texas construction agency
The agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled over the next 14 months under a plan announced Friday. But it will be business as usual for builders and homeowners dealing with the Texas Residential Construction Commission until Aug. 31. After that, the agency starts a one-year wind down of its operations. The TRCC is outlining its demise after lawmakers did not act to save the beleaguered agency from the state’s “sunset” process.

Why Texas is the deadliest state for construction workers
On Oct. 23, 2006, 19-year-old Omar Puerto was painting trim and preparing to install rain gutters on a three-story apartment building in South Austin. It was his third day on the job. So far, the main challenge had been moving the heavy 40-foot aluminum ladder; he and a fellow worker had struggled with it all three days. Behind the men was a spider’s web of electrical wires leading from the apartment building to a 7,200-volt transformer. Federal law requires that workers be trained before working around live wires. The law also says that any exposed wiring must be clearly marked. These wires weren’t. And Puerto, according to his family, had gotten no training. Now it was time to coax the 40-foot ladder toward the next section of wall. As Puerto and his partner yanked and pulled, the ladder hit an exposed wire connected to the transformer. The guy on the other end of the ladder took off running. Puerto had so much voltage running through his body that he couldn’t release his grip. He died right there.

Mandatory Binding Arbitration - Forced Arbitration - Is Bad For Consumers And Congress Should Act
This week on National Public Radio (NPR) “All Things Considered” highlights new legislation banning pre-dispute mandatory binding arbitration clauses. A recent article posted on Injury Board is a good resource on the subject of forced arbitration and covers the NPR story: NPR Examines "An Arbitration Culture".

Rape Case Highlights Arbitration Debate
Jamie Leigh Jones was a 20-year-old Halliburton employee in 2005 when she was sent to work in Iraq. She'd been there just four days when she joined a small group of Halliburton firefighters outside her barracks at the end of the day. One of them gave her a drink. She took two sips, and Jones says that was the last thing she remembered...Jones had been raped, repeatedly...Jones has decided that if she can't have her day in criminal court, she'll sue Halliburton and its former subsidiary, KBR, in civil court. "I want corporate accountability," she says.