Shea Homes, Inc. addresses Trilogy residents’ repair issues

Published 9:00 am Thursday, November 27, 2014

Since a group of homeowners from Trilogy on Redmond Ridge filed a mass-action lawsuit against Shea Homes, Inc., the California-based homebuilder has been working with some of the homeowners to address their repair issues.

According to a press release issued by Shea, more than 700 of the 1,500 homes in the community have responded to the homebuilder’s offer to have their homes inspected and fixed — or receive a cash settlement for construction issues.

As previously reported, some of those issues include water intrusion and rot damage caused by a lack of exterior waterproofing components.

“We are pleased by the positive response we have gotten from homeowners at Redmond Ridge who love their homes and community and want us to address issues, rather than join a lawsuit by plaintiffs,” said Robb Pigg, vice president of operations for Shea.

The press release goes on to state that the company has already completed more than 400 home inspections and made offers or repairs to many of the inspected homes.

“Although Shea professes to be working with over 600 homeowners, that is impossible because we represent nearly 1,000 of the 1,500 homes there, and we have seen practically 100 rejected Shea offers from our clients,” said Dave von Beck of Levy–von Beck & Associates, one of the Seattle-based law firms representing the plaintiffs.

Tom Loeser of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, the second law firm in Seattle representing the homeowners, said they filed an amended mass-action suit on Monday representing 964 homes. There are 1,521 homes total at Trilogy. As a result, Loeser said at the most, Shea would be working with 556 homes in the community.

The Shea press release states that the company expected the filing on Monday, but continues to state that it is making tremendous progress in addressing homeowner issues and believes the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ allegations and demands are “misleading, intentionally inflammatory and unnecessary.”

“We are actively addressing homeowner issues,” said Pigg. “(On Monday) the attorneys’ filing is unfair to Redmond Ridge residents because we believe that it makes misleading accusations intended to scare homeowners, not help them…As soon as Shea addresses issues, the plaintiffs’ attorneys raise new ones to sue over. We are proud of our homes at Redmond Ridge and will address any real issues because we want happy homeowners.”

He said they are encouraging homeowners to speak with others in the community who have decided on the repair and settlement path “over litigation that may take years to settle and may not be successful.”

“We believe the best road to resolving issues is one-on-one meetings with homeowners at their home where we can answer their questions and respond to their concerns,” Pigg said, adding, “Shea would rather have homeowners satisfied and pleased with our repair/settlement program than forced to participate in a lawsuit that could drag on for years —and possibly result in no repairs to their home and no settlement.”

Shea said residents who would like to have their homes evaluated for issues can contact the company directly by calling (866) 535-9959 or emailing customerservice@trilogylife.com.

While Shea has been offering to address the homeowners’ issues, Loeser said the offers they have seen from the company have not been adequate to cover the damages. In addition, he said Shea is aware of many problems homeowners are and could be facing. However, the homeowners may not be aware as some of the issues may not have cropped up yet. Loeser said these unknown matters would not be added to the homeowners’ total settlements, so they would not be covered in the future.

“(Homeowners) may be losing the ability to get their full damages (covered),” he said.

Pigg assured that the amount homeowners would be receiving would be sufficient.

“We are not at liberty to provide the figures, but we are addressing all of their issues by either repairing the items at issue or providing an agreed upon cash payment, at the owner’s choice,” he said.

In addition to inadequate settlements, both Loeser and von Beck said Shea is not giving homeowners enough time to make their decisions — only a few days.

“Shea is pressuring these homeowners to quickly accept their offers,” von Beck said.