HomeLatest NewsFeatured HomebuildersHome Buyer ResourcesBinding ArbitrationResource LinksSubmit ComplaintsView ComplaintsTake Action 101!Report Mortgage FraudMortgage Fraud NewsForeclosure NewsConstruction DefectsHome DefectsPhoto GalleryFoundation ProblemsHomeowner Website LinksHOA Reform
Main Menu
Home
Latest News
Featured Homebuilders
Home Buyer Resources
Binding Arbitration
Resource Links
Submit Complaints
View Complaints
Take Action 101!
Report Mortgage Fraud
Mortgage Fraud News
Foreclosure News
Construction Defects
Home Defects
Photo Gallery
Foundation Problems
Homeowner Website Links
HOA Reform
Featured Topics
Builder Death Spiral
Report Mortgage Fraud
Foreclosure Special Report
Mold & New Home Guide
Special News Reports
Centex & Habitability
How Fast Can They Build Them?
TRCC Editorial
Texas TRCC Scandal
Texas Watch - Tell Lawmakers
TRCC Recommendations
Sandra Bullock
People's Lawyer
Prevent Nightmare Homes
Choice Homes
Smart Money
Weekly Update Message
HOBB Archives
About HOBB
Contact Us
Fair Use Notice
Legislative Work
Your House

 HOBB News Alerts
and Updates

Click Here to Subscribe

Support HOBB - Become a Sustaining Member
Who's Online
ABC Special Report
Investigation: New Home Heartbreak
Trump - NAHB Homebuilders Shoddy Construction and Forced Arbitration

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.  Janet Ahmad

Minnesota Lawmaker Address Warranties
Wednesday, 22 March 2006

Measure forces builders to honor claims on warranties
A proposed bill would address a conflict in state law that is proving costly for some home owners who bring warranty claims against their home builders. Rep. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, wants home builders to honor their 10-year warranties even after they have ceased doing business and have dissolved their corporation. “Currently builders are dissolving and then coming back under a different name, and when they do that, the warranty is no good on the home,” Goodwin said.

Finance and Commerce
Measure forces builders to honor claims on warranties
By Charley Shaw, Special to Construction Tuesday
March 21, 2006 

A proposed bill would address a conflict in state law that is proving costly for some home owners who bring warranty claims against their home builders.

Rep. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, wants home builders to honor their 10-year warranties even after they have ceased doing business and have dissolved their corporation.

“Currently builders are dissolving and then coming back under a different name, and when they do that, the warranty is no good on the home,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin and Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, also want to add an attorney fee provision for home owners who prevail against their builders in court.

Lending support to the legislation is home owner Ed Seifert. He said he has been fighting a home warranty claim for the last three years stemming from water damage to his stucco home in Shoreview.

The repairs, which were not covered under his home-owner’s insurance policy, were completed last fall. The legal costs of pursuing the claim have piled up on top of the costs to repair the home.

“Minnesota laws regarding home warranty claims need to be changed to allow plaintiffs who prevail in home warranty claims to recover both the legal expenses and the cost of repairs,” Seifert said.

Home owners and attorneys are looking to the Legislature for help after a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling last year.

Scott Andresen of the Minneapolis law firm Bassford Remele represented home owners Arturo and Kristi Camacho in a lawsuit against home builder Todd and Leiser Homes Inc.

In 1999, Andresen’s clients bought their Vadnais Heights home and later discovered significant water intrusion and mold damage. The home, which was purchased by the Camachos for $305,000, cost more than $200,000 to repair.

The Camachos discovered the builder had dissolved his company after completing the house in 1993.

“Despite the fact that they were within the 10-year warranty period, they were told by the builder’s attorneys and the builder’s insurance company that they weren’t going to pay any money because the dissolution statute in Minnesota … allows corporations to dissolve, and two years later no lawsuits can be filed against the corporation,” Andresen said.

Andresen said the law conflicts with state law that says the warranties can’t be waived under any circumstances.

An opinion written by Justice Alan Page said it “is the province of the Legislature, not this court, to provide a remedy to those home owners who may be foreclosed from bringing an action.”

“The Supreme Court basically threw up a red flag to the Legislature,” Andresen said, “and in a couple of different places in the opinion said this is a really harsh result. It takes away a recovery from a home owner, but the way the law is written, it’s the Legislature’s job to correct it.”

The Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM), which represents the home building and remodeling industry, said it is unusual for home builders to dissolve in order to shirk their warranties. Nonetheless, the organization doesn’t defend the tactic.

“The Builders Association of Minnesota does not support the practice of builders dissolving their corporations in order to avoid their warranty obligations. We believe that’s a bad business practice,” said Pam Perri Weaver, BAM executive vice president.

Weaver said she plans to work with the authors of the bill to find a remedy during the legislative session. Lawmakers convened March 1 and are scheduled to adjourn on May 22.

Weaver said one problem is that state laws don’t allow home owners to seek redress by going directly to the builder’s general liability insurer.

BAM doesn’t favor the approach of paying attorney fees to the prevailing home owner. As a way to address the cost issue, Weaver said legislation has been introduced by Rep. Dan Severson, R-Sauk Rapids, and Sen. Linda Scheid, DFL-Brooklyn Park, that would require a builder to offer to repair damages to a home.

The legislation addresses a difficult situation for home builders. While builders don’t want their customers left in the lurch with expensive repairs, Weaver said insurance companies often aren’t willing to come to the table unless a lawsuit has been filed.

“I’m looking forward to solving this problem at the Legislature,” Weaver said.

 

 

 http://www.finance-commerce.com/item.cfm?recID=124438

 
< Prev
Search HOBB.org

Reckless Endangerment
BY: GRETCHEN MORGENSON
and JOSHUA ROSNER

Outsized Ambition, Greed and
Corruption Led to
Economic Armageddon


Amazon
Barnes & Noble

NPR Special Report
Part I Listen Now
Perry Home - No Warranty 
Part II Listen Now
Texas Favors Builders

Washington Post
The housing bubble, in four chapters
BusinessWeek Special Reports
Bonfire of the Builders
Homebuilders helped fuel the housing crisis
Housing: That Sinking Feeling

Consumer Affairs Builder Complaints

IS YOUR STATE NEXT?
As Goes Texas So Goes the Nation
Knowledge and Financial Responsibility are still Optional for Texas Home Builders

OUTSTANDING FOX4 REPORT
TRCC from Bad to Worse
Case of the Crooked House

TRCC AN ARRESTING EXPERIENCE
The Pat and Bob Egert Building & TRCC Experience 

Build it right the first time
An interview with Janet Ahmad

Bad Binding Arbitration Experience?
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call 1-210-402-6800

top of page

© 2024 HomeOwners for Better Building
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.