Fine Print Has Homeowners Scared To Discuss Damage Buy a Home and Shut Up – Contact us immediately if you find you have a Builder Shut up ClauseAttention: New Homeowners check you contract and subdivision covenants to see if you have unknowingly given up you Constitutional to Rights to Speak Florida and Texas Builders – KB, Drees, Centex, Mercedes Homes and other builders are increasingly are using Bullying Tactic to silence Free Speech. Have Homebuilders gone too far...they have no shame when it comes to their intent to defraud homebuyers.
The pressure is on at Mercedes Homes Homeowner Says She Was Sued For Complaining About Damage Florida Ch. 2 WESH TV - November 19, 2004 MELBOURNE , Fla. -- The pressure is on at Mercedes Homes, a company that's been suing or threatening to sue its own customers for complaining about shoddy construction. A high-powered law firm is taking up the homeowners' cause, and Brevard County building officials are also taking a closer look, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported. Video: Fine Print Has Homeowners Scared To Discuss Damage A NewsChannel 2 investigation -- part of our Building Homes: Building Problems series -- found Mercedes Homes actually filed a lawsuit against a woman for telling her neighbors about severe leaks in her home. Jay Ann Contardi couldn't imagine a problem any worse than the deluge of rainwater pouring into her leaking home. That is, until she ran afoul of the aggressive lawyers representing her builder, Mercedes Homes. "It has changed my life. I'm afraid to talk to my neighbors. I'm afraid to walk my daughter to the bus stop. I'm afraid to talk to you right now," she told NewsChannel 2 reporter Dan Billow. She's not the only one. Other Mercedes homeowners asked us to protect their identities. "I feel like I'm in a police state. I can't do anything. I have no avenues. I have nowhere to turn," one homeowner said. That's what it feels like when you're sued for talking to your neighbor. In the company's plush corporate offices, executives hatched a plan to make buyers sign away their First Amendment rights. "It's there in black and white. The customer should read his or her contract thoroughly before they enter into it," said Patrick Roche, Mercedes Attorney. When you buy a Mercedes home, the fine print says you can't complain to your neighbors, call the news media or even carry a picket sign, even if your new quarter-million dollar home leaks through the roof, walls and windows. "This is my little boy's room. The mildew's so bad he coughs all night long. It's despicable what Mercedes has done," one homeowner said. Complaints about Mercedes homes are among the most numerous NewsChannel 2 has received in our ongoing investigation of local builders. Owners told us the stucco is substandard or too thin, screws are even left out of pre-drilled holes in the windows and poorly applied exterior paint does not protect against moisture. |
