Iraq Rape Case, Stresses Dire Need for Arbitration Reformt
Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR, and the employees who raped Jones, have faced no criminal or civil consequences for their actions, leaving the physically and emotionally damaged Jones to question if certain corporations are immune from the law.  Halliburton/KBR denies responsibility for Jones’ rape, allowed the employees involved to stay on the job after she left Iraq, declined to ensure that the responsible employees faced criminal charges, and now claim they can’t be sued in court either, pointing to a mandatory arbitration clause in Jones’ employment contract.

Water Restrictions, what's the Impact on Homeowners?
How does this happen? How can we put a man on the moon in 1969, essentially eradicate smallpox, build millions of homes that don't have foundation deficiencies and failures, yet let so many engineers and homebuilders continually plague homeowners with substandard foundations? The answer is simple. Money. Let's follow the money.

Indicted Countrywide Chief Built Second Home in Texas
In 2004 Texas' top leaders awarded $20 million in taxpayer funds to induce Countrywide to expand its Texas workforce. After the troubled company laid off one-fifth of its workforce, Governor Perry now refuses to release the compliance reports that Countrywide files to verify if it is has met the jobs requirements of its state grant.  Read more: Lobby Watch at TPJ.

Citing e-mail messages in which Mr. Mozilo referred to Countrywide loan products as “toxic” and  “poison,” S.E.C. officials said that he had misled investors about growing risks in the company’s lending practices from 2005 through 2007. During this time he also generated $140 million in profits by selling stock in the company, the S.E.C. said.  “This is the tale of two companies,” said Robert Khuzami, enforcement director at the S.E.C. “Countrywide portrayed itself as underwriting mainly prime-quality mortgages, using high underwriting standards. But concealed from shareholders was the true Countrywide, an increasingly reckless lender assuming greater and greater risk.” At a news conference announcing its filing of the suit, the most prominent against an executive involved in the mortgage crisis, Mr. Khuzami said the S.E.C. had made it a priority “to pursue cases at the root of the financial crisis.” As the nation’s largest mortgage lender, Countrywide helped fuel the housing boom by offering loans to high-risk borrowers. See Related Feature: Rise and Fall of Predatory Lending and Housing

TRCC dies, leaving questions
The often-criticized agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled.As the legislative session wound down this week, lawmakers did not act to save the beleaguered Texas Residential Construction Commission from the state's Sunset process. Now the decision — which many say is unlikely to be reversed in a special session — has consumer advocates, builders' groups, attorneys and even agency officials themselves scratching their heads over how the agency's death will occur... Alex Winslow:  “We got the agency out of the way and now can start with a fresh slate in the next session,” he said. “We can create a process or agency so that builders are held accountable and homes are built right the first time. The TRCC never really served those goals,” he said.

The Arbitration Fairness Act Gets Support From NASAA
The North American Securities Administrators Association, NASAA, announced last week that it fully supports the Arbitration Fairness Act, which makes forced arbitration unenforceable. The Arbitration Fairness Act currently making its way through Congress, which will make binding arbitration agreements before an actual disagreement occurs unenforceable, has been given a boost by being endorsed by an organization of state securities regulators. The North American Securities Administrators Association, NASAA, announced last week that it fully supports the legislation, introduced as S. 931 by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and H.R. 1020 by Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA).

Zombie zones - Stalled housing sites litter local landscape
Tucked into the far backwoods of Brunswick County, the Villages at Goose Marsh once planned to house almost 800 families. Now it’s a desolate, lonely community of one. The story is similar throughout Brunswick County, especially in the N.C. 211 corridor. Dozens of planned developments slowed or stalled when the economy took a nose dive, leaving them in a zombie state: not quite dead, but nowhere close to finished. While there are some signs of life, the county’s property market remains shaky at best.

Homebuilder watchdog agency could close next year
The Texas Residential Construction Commission appears to be doomed. The agency was supposed to be a way for thousands of Texas homeowners to get their complaints against builders resolved. Instead, many homeowners felt they were being regulated instead of the builders. View Video Report

The Examiner: Timely Demise
TRCC is currently at death's door in Austin as lawmakers in the Senate showed little appetite for extending the life of the controversial organization created by the legislature in 2003 at the behest of Bob Perry and other home builders...A significant contributing factor in TRCC's demise was the persistent testimony of homeowners who ran into serious problems after they had purchased new homes, only to find that TRCC consistently took the side of the builders over the buyers... Two women from Southeast Texas - Marcia Kushner of Jersey Village and Dorina Corrente of Sugarland - became regular visitors to the state capitol in Austin over a period of years to tell their horror stories about the builders they believe hid behind the TRCC to avoid fixing the defects that plagued their not-inexpensive new houses...Corrente in particular was singled out for harsh treatment, first from homebuilder D.R. Horton and most egregiously by Duane Waddill, executive director of TRCC. When she testified at a hearing in Austin before the House Building and Industry Committee on March 23 of this year about her on-going struggle with the homebuilder, Waddill sought to dismiss her complaints and assailed her credibility by suggesting from the. podium that she was mentally unstable and that D.R. Horton had to obtain "a restraining order against Mrs. Corrente to keep her off their property."...the charge he leveled against Corrente was a lie.

Parkland homes vacated thanks to Chinese drywall
According to the task force appointed by the City Commission to gauge the impact of the problem, a significant number of people have either moved out of their homes or are in the process of doing so.  John Willis, task force member, told city officials that 151 people within the city had responded to a question on whether they were planning to vacate their house due to the problem. "Fifty percent of the people said they are planning to move out. I know of at least 12 families that have already left their homes. I think we will see more of that happen in the next few months." ...Although tests are yet to conclusively prove that the defective drywall causes health problems, 49 percent of the 173 people who responded to a question on the subject said they were having health issues like nosebleeds, shortness of breath and asthma. Twenty one people in the city contacted insurance companies to see if the losses would be covered, with only two getting a positive response.

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. “This is a system that clearly does not work for the homeowner,” he said. “I hope what this group is doing can help change things in the future.”

EXCLUSIVE: "He Did a Piss Poor Job," Homeowner About Builder
Three homeowners she talked to thought they were getting good deals on their dream homes, but now a year and a half later they're paying tens of thousands of dollars to finish work on their houses. Money spent on work they say their builder should have finished. Chris Urbanski used a Marine Corps veteran, used a VA Loan to buy his first house built by Bookcliff Builders of Fruita. He bought a $284,000 home that a little more than a year later he says is falling apart. And Urbanski isn't the only one who says he's had problems with Bookcliff Builders.

Dallas Morning News: Senate adds amendment that would kill Texas Residential Construction Commission
The Senate just passed 31-0 its so-called safety net bill that will allow agencies subject to sunset review this session to continue for two years, even if their bill authorizing a bill continuation does not pass. Of the 25 or so agencies under review, only a handful have seen their continuation bills pass both chambers. Under law, if those bills don't pass, they go out of business -- include another bill provides them a temporary lifeline. But the Texas Residential Construction Commission won't be among the agencies afforded that extension, at least not according to the bill that just passed the Senate. Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, added an amendment that would leave out of the safety net that commission, and instead shut it down after this session.

Dallad Morning News: Residential Construction Commission: Circling the drain? Homeowners groups sent out victory press releases this evening, saying lawmakers had decided to abolish the oft-criticized Texas Residential Construction Commission. Not. So. Fast. True, the agency may be circling the drain. Though the House passed legislation to drastically reform the state's homebuilding agency, the bill won't make it up for a vote in the Senate. That means the agency - which was up for review this year - will be phased out unless lawmakers give it a two-year extension.