Robert & Jane Cull Written Testimony Before The
Texas
House Subcommittee on TRCC
We followed the rules of the warranty, patiently notifying Perry in writing with each of our issues. We trusted them. We actually believed that they would do the right thing because we had been raised with those values...It is time for the legislature to act. And that action has to be driven by the absolute reality that homeowners with limited knowledge and resources need protection from homebuilders, not the other way around. Birthing the TRCC did nothing but give homebuilders a âgatekeeperâ to control access and flow of complaints and otherwise frustrate
Texas
citizens into either withdrawing or never even trying to tackle the maze. You need to come down hard and swiftly in order to minimize the possibility that other homeowners have to suffer the same fate that we have suffered.
STATEMENT FROM BOB AND JANE CULL,
MANSFIELD
TEXAS
March 31, 2009
We have been involved with construction and/or legal issues surrounding our home for almost 13 years. However, we may be the least qualified to advise the panel on the specifics of legislative outcomes that must be in place to rebalance the playing field as between homebuilders and homeowners. There are many others in the room and across the state who have spent countless months and years of their lives in this endeavor.
Until our legal battle with
Perry
Homes
, we had not been on either side of a lawsuit in our lives. Any visits to the courthouse were for the rare speeding ticket or for jury duty. Thus, you can forget the âstraw manâ of frivolous lawsuits where we are concerned. In addition to that complete lack of interest or experience in legal matters, we were like virtually every single homeowner we have ever known. We were excited about our new home and looked forward to the day we could move in. It is highly unlikely that there has ever been a homeowner who entered into a contract while they secretly harbored a desire to abuse the homebuilder because of trumped up construction defects. It sounds silly because it is.
To the complete contrary, the idea that something will be wrong with their new home does not even make the list of likely events. We were shocked and dismayed when the dead bolt had to be engaged or the back door would blow open. After a time, we woke up every morning staring at a 15-foot horizontal crack in our master bedroom wall. There were cracks appearing all over the house, windows that wouldnât open and other evidence of a failed foundation. We followed the rules of the warranty, patiently notifying Perry in writing with each of our issues. We trusted them. We actually believed that they would do the right thing because we had been raised with those values.
After years of frustration and armed with engineering reports and a warranty company that said the foundation had failed, we finally retained legal counsel. This decision came after one last appeal to
Perry
Homes
. In that letter, we did everything but beg them to help us find some common ground where we could avoid that outcome. The response was inadequate. After fighting for the right to go to arbitration through District Court, Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court, we went to arbitration. We won . . . big. The award was confirmed at District Court and in the Court of Appeals. But in one final display of political power and influence run amok, a misguided Texas Supreme Court filled in the legal blanks for
Perry
Homes
and âwrongedâ every ârightâ that had been done for almost a decade.
Perryâs answer to this loss in arbitration was to persuade the legislature to create the TRCC, ostensibly to level the playing field and give homeowners a vehicle to redress grievances. Clearly, those little homebuilders needed protection from all those big, bad homeowners who just couldnât wait to spend years and years of their financial capital and emotional energy trapped in the legal system . . . and economically trapped in homes with âconstruction stigmaâ.
It is time for the legislature to act. And that action has to be driven by the absolute reality that homeowners with limited knowledge and resources need protection from homebuilders, not the other way around. Birthing the TRCC did nothing but give homebuilders a âgatekeeperâ to control access and flow of complaints and otherwise frustrate
Texas
citizens into either withdrawing or never even trying to tackle the maze.
You need to come down hard and swiftly in order to minimize the possibility that other homeowners have to suffer the same fate that we have suffered. Thank you.
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