On Oct. 10, a group of homeowners from Trilogy on Redmond Ridge filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court for the Western District of Washington against Shea Homes, Inc.

The lawsuit alleges that the California-based homebuilder acted unfairly and deceptively in building, marketing and selling homes specifically marketed to elderly buyers.

The group is made up of more than 950 plaintiffs who own about 600 homes in Trilogy, a planned community for adults 55 and older.

Steve Berman — whose Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, along with Levy–von Beck & Associates (also in Seattle), is representing the plaintiffs — said they expect more people to join the lawsuit for a total of about 1,000 homes to be represented. There are about 1,500 homes in Trilogy, he said.

The lawsuit alleges that Shea knowingly ignored architect plans and building codes by omitting required exterior waterproofing components such as metal flashings intended to prevent water intrusion and rot damage.

In response to the lawsuit, Shea said in a prepared statement that a class-action lawsuit in this matter had been rejected in federal court in July. The statement continued, reading, “while we cannot discuss the claims specifically, we believe they are without merit and are prepared to vigorously defend this latest attempt to expand the litigation.”

NEIGHBORHOOD-WIDE DAMAGES

The 89-page complaint states that Shea “chose to build and sell over 1,500 homes in the Trilogy at Redmond Ridge development (‘Trilogy’) that it knew deviated from its architects’ and contractors’ guidelines, county-approved plans, and recommendations.” The complaint continues that the homebuilder “intentionally omitted nearly all industry-standard methods for building homes to withstand our wet weather. And, even after its first homes suffered from various forms of water intrusion due to the substandard construction, Shea refused to tell its customers of the problems and continued building new homes with the same defects.” The lawsuit alleges that Shea “cut out crucial weather-proofing methods that all responsible Northwest architects and builders include in their homes,” ignoring code requirements, industry norms and its own submitted and approved plans, as a way to increase profits.

Berman told the Reporter that the amount varies from home to home, but homeowners have incurred anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 in damages.

Trilogy resident Dale Stirn, said the damages to his and his wife’s home will cost them about $5,000 to $6,000 but this is because as someone who works in construction, he or his company has been able to do the work themselves. If they had to hire people to do the work — like many of their fellow residents — it would have cost them anywhere between $15,000 and $20,000.

Stirn said the damage his home incurred have included rotting column bases and damaged window trims, the latter of which they discovered while repainting their home.

“It’s all been caused by water damage,” Stirn said.

He said he and his wife soon became aware that their neighbors were dealing with similar issues, as well, and it didn’t take them long to figure out that a fair number of people were having problems.

According to the complaint, some of the damages homeowners have experienced include “garage floors that need pea gravel and moisture barriers, corbels and columns that need replacement, and windows, doors, patios, and decks that need flashing and new trim.” In addition, many homes had drainage issues and hundreds of garages suffered from standing water, chemical deposits or stains or all three issues.

Despite the issues he and his wife and their neighbors are facing, Stirn said there is nowhere else he would rather live.

“This is a wonderful place to live,” he said about Trilogy.

DEALING WITH REPAIRS

While Stirn is fortunate to be able to do the repairs around his house himself or with the help of his company, many at Trilogy have to hire someone to do the work — either because they don’t know how to do the work or they are unable to.

“They are not physically capable of doing the work even if they know how to do the work,” he said, adding that dealing with all the damages can be overwhelming.

Berman added in a press release issued by Hagens Berman, “We believe that what Shea Homes has done to outright ignore building codes and the well-being of innocent homeowners is inexcusable. This widespread faulty construction and deception alleged in the complaint has led to what we believe may be the largest lawsuit ever brought in Washington in terms of the number of plaintiffs seeking damages on an individual basis against a homebuilder.”

Berman told the Reporter that the plaintiffs are particularly impacted by the damages as most of them are on a fixed income and can’t afford to shell out the thousands of dollars it would cost to repair their homes.

“They want to get their homes fixed and they want Shea to pay for it,” he said about the plaintiffs’ goal of the lawsuit. “No one wants their home rotting away.”

According to the prepared statement from Shea, the homebuilder is “continuing to successfully work directly with (the) homeowners to resolve any issues they may have with their homes.” Shea began working with individual homeowners several weeks ago, giving the company an opportunity to “address a number of issues raised by homeowners and to outline an approach to inspect their homes and resolve their issues in a timely manner.”

“We’ve also had a number of productive group meetings with our homeowners at the Cascade Club, and are planning additional meetings,” the statement reads. “These meetings have provided an opportunity for Shea to hear directly from our homeowners, address the issues raised, and further outline our approach to inspect their homes and resolve their issues as quickly as possible. We look forward to continuing to work directly with our homeowners in this manner.”

A HISTORY OF LAWSUITS

The complaint also alleges that Shea conducted secret investigations into rotting homes as far back as 2007. According to the complaint, these investigations concluded that columns on hundreds of Trilogy homes were rotting internally from the day they were built and that other wooden elements were rotting and detaching from houses. During this time, Shea allegedly told homeowners that the problems were not construction related, but were due to inadequate homeowner maintenance.

In the press release, Dave von Beck of Levy–von Beck said, “This isn’t the first time Shea has been accused of trying to deceive homeowners. Shea has been sued twice before for violations of the Consumer Protection Act due to concealed defects at Trilogy at Redmond Ridge.”

A class-action lawsuit seeking damages for mold was filed in 2010. Shea settled it in 2011. A second class action came against Shea in 2012.

“Shea’s track record is piling up, and it has recently scheduled meetings with homeowners in what we see as a belated attempt to salvage its reputation and avoid paying damages,” von Beck said in the press release. “We believe that this latest strategy is no more reliable than the weatherproofing on Shea’s homes — it is too little, too late.”

As of the Reporter’s deadline, Shea didn’t respond to an email regarding the past lawsuits.