Homeowners Suits

Owners of condominium units that were heavily damaged last March when Niguel Summit subdivision homes crashed down a slope on them reached a $9.4-million settlement Friday with two Orange County developers. The Crown Valley Parkway Homeowners Assn., representing the homeowners, settled with Hon Development Co. and the owner of J.M. Peters Inc., developers of the Niguel Summit project in Laguna Niguel.

They had been told that a prior owner had killed himself in the backyard, but Troy and Maysoun Fletcher did their best to forget about it when they moved into their Mission Viejo home. It wasn't until a month later, when a mold inspector poking through the garage stepped into dried blood and what appeared to be human tissue near the water heater, that the couple realized there was a lot they didn't know about their first house.

Long suffering owners of units at Canyon Oaks Condominiums have received a $12-million out-of-court settlement to their suit charging the condo developer used substandard construction techniques and materials. American Beauty Homes built the 752-unit Canyon Country complex in the mid-1980s. The suit by condo owners was filed in 1990. Originally known as American Beauty Condominiums, the units were sold by the developer for $59,000 to $79,000.

Homeowners can no longer sue builders for negligence in California unless construction defects have caused an injury or economic loss, the California Supreme Court decided Monday. The 5-2 decision was an important victory for the state's construction industry, which has complained that negligence suits have virtually halted condominium construction in California.

Henry Nahoum severed his East Coast ties in 1990 as a dental professor at Columbia University and retired to Orange County to be near his grandchildren. South County was then at the tail end of a huge building boom; new homes were selling faster than builders could frame them. With only a model to judge, Nahoum put much of his nest egg down on a $600,000 home to be built amid the rolling hills of Nellie Gail Ranch, an exclusive neighborhood with an equestrian bent.

A Superior Court judge Thursday rejected the appeal of a Huntington Harbour woman whose neighbors had won a record $90,575 judgment, claiming the trash on her property created a vermin infestation. Judge C. Robert Jameson upheld the small-claims court decision and increased the judgment against Elena Zagustin, an engineering professor on leave from Cal State Long Beach, to $110,000 plus more than $6,000 in attorneys' fees.

Homeowners can no longer sue builders for negligence in California unless construction defects have caused an injury or economic loss, the California Supreme Court decided Monday. The 5-2 decision was an important victory for the state's construction industry, which has complained that negligence suits have virtually halted condominium construction in California.

A Santa Monica couple living in a hotel since the Northridge earthquake rocked their beach house in 1994 was awarded more than $5 million Wednesday in a lawsuit filed against their insurance company. It is one of the biggest earthquake awards in the state and one of the first verdicts to come out of the hundreds of claims languishing in the wake of the devastating tremor.

Power Line Suit Rejected: A state appeals court in Santa Ana dismissed a San Clemente homeowners lawsuit charging that the proximity of high-voltage power lines made it impossible to sell the property. In rejecting Jean and Martin Covalt's 1993 suit, the 4th District Court of Appeal agreed with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. that questions of power line hazards lie with the state Public Utilities Commission.

A group of Palmdale homeowners filed suit against Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. in Los Angeles County Superior Court this week, alleging that the Los Angeles-based home builder used cheap materials and allowed shoddy workmanship on their homes. About 40 homeowners in the 390-home California Marquis tract are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said their attorney, Clayton Anderson.

A jury on Tuesday found that some of Orange County's biggest developers and contractors sold homes with defective foundations but awarded a group of Yorba Linda homeowners less than a quarter of the $8 million they had requested. The $1.7-million verdict is being closely watched because there are several other construction-defect cases pending in Orange County involving similar concrete foundations. This is the first such case to go to court.

City officials in Orange advised scared and angry homeowners Wednesday to drain their swimming pools and stop watering the lawns of their homes in the Vista Royale and Peralta Pointe developments in a last-ditch effort to stave off a catastrophic landslide. Owners of the 30 upscale homes in the danger zone were called to the meeting to hear an explanation of the emergency orders and to have a chance to vent frustrations, Assistant City Atty. Wayne Winthers said.

In the Old West, vigilantes and trees usually meant a neighborhood nuisance was getting hanged. But here in the New West, the trees are deemed the nuisance--and the vigilantes carry saws.

Masquerading as Caltrans workers, a group of renegade San Clemente residents cut down or poisoned more than 50 eucalyptus trees that lined a scenic stretch of the Santa Ana Freeway below their homes, the highway agency alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The trees, which blocked the ocean views of homes in the neighborhood, were removed over a three-year period by at least four men dressed in orange shirts and matching hard hats typically worn by Caltrans crews, according to the lawsuit.

Masquerading as Caltrans workers, a group of renegade San Clemente residents cut down or poisoned more than 50 eucalyptus trees that lined a scenic stretch of the Santa Ana Freeway below their homes, the highway agency alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The trees, which blocked the ocean views of homes in the neighborhood, were removed over a three-year period by at least four men dressed in orange shirts and matching hard hats typically worn by Caltrans crews, according to the lawsuit.

DuPont to Settle Suit: The chemical company said it will pay $120 million to settle claims over leaky plastic pipes installed in thousands of mobile homes and other low-cost housing units. The agreement will provide as many as 930,000 homeowners with $120 to $200 each, or 8% of the cost of installing new plumbing, based on figures provided by the company. The settlement involves polybutylene plumbing, known as PB pipe and most easily recognized by its gray tint. A maximum $8.

The Municipal Court judge who ruled in favor of a group of Huntington Harbour residents against their neighbor explained Wednesday that the amount of his judgment was much higher than what a clerk had indicated. The residents were awarded $90,575, not $50,175 as the court clerk reported Tuesday to several news organizations, including The Times. Judge Corey S.

The Glen at Hillsborough Assn., which represents the owners of a 282-unit condominium complex in La Mirada, will receive $5 million in a settlement of its suit alleging construction defects, design flaws and code violations that the group claimed resulted in leaky roofs, decks and windows. The agreement settles the suit, filed in June 1997, against La Mirada Hills Development Co., a partnership of the William Lyon Co. and Chevron Land & Development Co., and various subcontractors.