HomeOwners for Better Building MEDIA UPDATE October 5, 2006
The trial of active duty US Army Colonel Jay Hirata and wife retired Lieutenant Colonel Joy Hirata, a 31-year Army Veteran should be coming to an end.  After two years of trying to get their defective Sitterele home repaired the Hiratas will take the stand to tell their story today.

HOMEOWNERS   for BETTER   BUILDING
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 — MEDIA UPDATE —
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    Contact: Janet Ahmad 
Hirata vs. Sitterle Homes
   Thursday, October 5, 2006
225^th Civil Court – Judge John J. Specia
Bexar County Court House

               US Army Colonel Jay Hirata and Joy Hirata testify today  

     San Antonio –    The trial of active duty US Army Colonel Jay Hirata and wife retired Lieutenant Colonel Joy Hirata, a 31-year Army Veteran should be coming to an end.  After two years of trying to get their defective Sitterele home repaired the Hiratas will take the stand to tell their story today.

The case made headlines when homebuilder, Sitterle Corporation, unexpectedly filed a defamation suit against Colonel Hirata for filing a public complaint about their defective home.

Despite favorable rulings from the state agency TRCC, the Third Party Inspector (assigned by the TRCC), and the TRCC Appellate Panel regarding multiple construction defects, Sitterle failed to make the repairs forcing the couple to file a lawsuit against Sitterle Homes.  

The Hirata case is important since it is the first to go to trial since the creation of the TRCC, that has come under fire because of it lack of authority to enforce its findings. 

Earlier this year a state comptrollers’ report found that families including the Hiratas, had confirmed construction defects in their homes through TRCC, yet 86% of the time builders failed to make repairs, forcing families to take costly legal action.

Colonel Hirata expressed his frustrations publicly regarding their ordeal and of dealing with the much-criticized TRCC system, and its inability to force the Sitterle Corporation to remedy the construction defects with their home as outlined by the TRCC.

The couple wrote local, state, and congressional leaders, local military installations within San Antonio , and posted a complaint on the HOBB .org website expressing frustration over the inability to hold Sitterle accountable.

According to the Colonel in a written statement, this experience with the TRCC and the Sitterle Corporation has been more stressful than his combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and Pakistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) combined. 
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