'A River Runs Through'
          An Example of a Failed Texas Residential Construction Commission 
 The Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) confirmed the defective drainage, the construction defects and damages to these Goff homes but it only prolonging the agony over the long years of the legal struggle.  Goff Home bought back homes in an out of court settlement after 3 1/2 years of legal battles and approximately $100,000.00 in legal costs. 

Homeowner Choices and Alternatives
This Goff builder story will help homeowners understand the Texas legal system or the lack thereof, caused by big builder influence, its failures and the importance of the power in numbers.  Organizing your community to bring public attention to builder’s bad deeds and seeking assistance from local, state and federal elected officials has proven to be more effective and much quicker for thousands of families. You do have choices and alternatives

The Clasic: Rick Casey's Buy a House and Shut Up! 
Outrageous! Buy a New Home - Don’t Sue and Shut Up 
Homebuilders will stop at nothing – Now Buyers must agree not to Speak
Goff Homes Arbitration Clause - Beware of New Builder Clause – Homebuilder requires that homebuyers sign an Arbitration Agreement at closing causing them to give up their 1^st and 7^th constitutional rights. For the homebuyer it’s a decision between constitutional rights and the American Dream.
                          
                                                 Imagine keeping this backyard a secret

Buyers must agree not to: FILE ANY PROTEST, GRIEVANCE, OR COMPLAINT… INCLUDING THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OR ANY MEDIA ENTITY, TELEVISION OR OTHERWISE… AGREES THAT NO SIGN OR BILLBOARD OR WRITING OR CHART OR DRAWING CONCERNING THE CONDITION OF THE HOME AND/OR PROPERTY SHALL BE ERECTED OR PLACED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IS VISIBLE TO PERSONS PASSING BY THE PROPERTY… and much more.

Also contained in the contract is a biased arbitration provision that specifies the use Construction Arbitration Services (CAS) . If that isn’t enough, the final clause in the agreement could cost homeowners their home – “A SUM EQUAL TO THE PURCHASE PRICE, OF THE HOME,” if the owner appeals the arbitrators’ decision to the appellate courts.

See related HOBB article: Public Citizens News Release September 01, 2004
CAS Arbitration Investigated – Recently an investigative report by Public Citizen helped launch numerous state investigations – The Public Citizens report points to Home Buyers Warranty (HBW) and their specified arbitrator (CAS) as having close ties, which could lead to a biased mandatory arbitration process that shields “homebuilders from liability for construction defects.” Public Citizen call for investigation of HBW and CAS.

Goff Homes Arbitration Clause 
E.  ARBITRATION REQUIRED AND TEXAS LAW TO APPLY
THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE CONSTRUED UNDER AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE, LAWS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.  ALL OBLIGATIONS OF THE BUYER AND THE SELLER ARE PERFORMABLE IN THE STATE Of TEXAS.  THE BUYER AND SELLER AGREE THAT THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF LIABILITY FOR EITHER PARTY SHALL BE THE AMOUNT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE ENTERED AT SECTION; I.A. ABOVE, LESS THE ACTUAL APPRAISED VALUE OF THE PROPERTY.  ANY CONTROVERSY OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, THAT ARISES OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT, ANY AMENDMENT THERETO, THE PURCHASE OR CONDITION OF THE PROPERTY, OR THE PURCHASE OR CONDITION OF THE HOME, SHALL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING ARBITRATION IN DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS ACCORDING TO THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE CONSTRUCTION ARBITRATION SERVICE, INC.  THE BUYER EXPRESSLY AGREES THAT NO SUIT (OR ANY ADVERSE ACTION WHETHER IN AGENCY, MEDIA, OR INFORMAL) CAN BE FILED IF ARIBITRATION HAS NOT FIRST BEEN COMPLETED.  IN ADDITION, THE BUYER AGREES THAT THE BUYER WILL NOT, UNTIL ARBITRATION IS COMPLETED, FILE ANY PROTEST, GRIEVANCE, OR COMPLAINT; OR INITIATE ANY PROCEEDING AGAINST THE SELLER IN ANY OTHER FORUM (INCLUDING THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OR ANY MEDIA ENTITY, TELEVISION OR OTHERWISE) PRIOR TO THE COMPLETION OF ARBITRATION. THE BUYER FURTHER AGREES THAT NO SIGN OR BILLBOARD OR WRITING OR CHART OR DRAWING CONCERNING THE CONDITION OF THE HOME AND/OR PROPERTY SHALL BE ERECTED OR PLACED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IS VISIBLE TO PERSONS PASSING BY THE PROPERTY; UNTIL AFTER ARBITRATION IS COMPLETED.  IF THE BUYER VIOLATES THIS PROVISION BY FAILING TO MAKE ARBITRATION THE FULL AND COMPLETE FIRST REMEDY, THE BUYER AGREES THAT IT SHALL PAY THE SELLER A LIQUIDATED DAMAGE OF $2,000.OO.  IF THE NEW HOME WARRANTY IS RELEVANT TO THE CONTROVERSY, THE PARTIES EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT THE TERMS OF THE NEW HOME WARRANTY SHALL GOVERN AND PREEMPT THIS AGREEMENT. THE BUYER AND THE SELLER FURTHER AGREE THAT ANY SUCH ARBITRATION MUST BE INSTITUTED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER SUCH CONTROVERSY ARISES.  FAILURE TO INSTITUTE ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS WITHIN SUCH TIME PERIOD SHALL BE AN ABSOLUTE BAR TO SUCH PROCEDINGS, AND SHALL BE AN ABSOLUTE WAIVER, RELEASE, AND DISCHARGE BY BUYER OF ALL CLAIMS AGAINST SELLER RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT, ANY AMENDMENT THERETO, OF THE HOME AND PROPERTY.  IF EITHER PARTY DISAGREES WITH THE ARBITRATOR'S AWARD, THE ONLY REMEDY FOR EITHER BUYER OR SELLER SHALL BE TO FILE A CAUSE OF ACTION IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS, SHOWING BY CLEAR AND COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT THE ARBITRATOR IGNORED ALL EVIDENCE IN ITS FAVOR.  THE PARTIES AGREE THAT THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF LIABILITY FOR EITHER PARTY IN A LAWSUIT SHALL BE THE PURCHASE PRICE LESS THE ACTUAL APPRAISED VALUE OF THE LOT.  IF THE PARTY FILING SUIT TO CHALLENGE THE ARBITRATION AWARD IS UNSUCCESSFUL, THE PREVAILING PARTY SHALL BE ENTITLED TO ITS ATTORNEYS' FEES AND COSTS, COURT COSTS, AND A SUM EQUAL TO THE PURCHASE PRICE, OF THE HOME AS LIQLTIDATED DAMAGES; WITHOUT THE NECESSITY OF A JURY INSTRUCTION OR FINDING OF FACT AS TO SAME.

UPDATE
Goff Homes, Jerrod Goff, JLL Development VIII, and Tommy Goff decided it was better to settle fairly with us rather than go to court and have all the facts of what they had done to this subdivision come out in a public forum with 12 people deciding their fate or in their cases, the fate of their bank accounts.  It came down to the issue that the facts were no longer in question but how much a jury would tag each of the defendants and third party defendants.  We are not allowed to discuss our settlement but the civil suit is open to the public and anyone who wishes to view any of the deposition testimony or items entered into evidence can certainly do so.
 

 

Now that the lawsuit is finally over for us (there are two more homeowners involved) I will be creating online albums and posting many of the photos we have taken over the past 3 and 1/2 years of our lake and the many tributaries of the Avondale Farms River that flows through our yard and our neighbors' yards.  Hopefully someone in cyberspace who is thinking about buying a home from this builder (and I use the expression very loosely) will at least have the ability to see the "quality workmanship" that goes into the homes he builds.

           

 

For those of you who have never seen what we have lived with for over 3 years, here are photos taken recently with about 1-2 inches of rain.  The green box is our electric junction box.  You can see the river starting on the right and going behind our small fence.  Our property ends at the back fence and is dry back there (that is where they did not install the 10 ft wide by 2 ft deep ditch that is supposed to run along the spine for about 6 acres).  What you can't see is that the widening river running behind my little fence is actually going under the fence and over 2/3 of our entire yard is under water.

                    

 

This is what happens on the North side of our driveway.  Notice the water coming across the driveway........water has come into the garage 3 times.

 

From South of our yard.  You can see the river between the 2 fences (our yard).  If you look along the fence line at our home you can see the water goes up to the house.....the water is running under the fence and is up to our deck in our back yard.  The majority of this photo shows our neighbor's yard and what he has every time it rains.

 

On this night, he had water come into the entire West side of his house and we had it come into the NW corner of our house.  It rained about 3 more inches during the night and the water rose past the area of his white fence, onto his patio and into the house. Yes, he is also in the lawsuit.