ANDERSON CO., (WSPA) – Almost four years after a lawsuit was filed, 220 homeowners in the subdivision Rose Hill are now being awarded a total of over $20 million.
A lawsuit was filed in 2019 claiming negligence against D.R. Horton and breach of implied warranty against third party JLS Masonry.
A jury decided D.R. Horton would pay $15 million in damages and JLS Masonry would pay $4 million. The total of damages reached $22 million, given other subcontractors involved, reaching a gross amount of close to $100,000 per home.
“No it doesn’t hurt them (D.R. Horton), Plaintiff’s Attorney Justin Lucey said. “They need more consumers to hold them accountable for them to even notice.”
Justin Lucey, the attorney representing the homeowners, said D.R. Horton has earned billions of dollars per year building what he called defective homes. He said their defense in this case was one he couldn’t believe.
“One of their main defenses in this case is that everybody does it, all of the other builders do it, this is the new industry standard,” Lucey said. “When I heard that the first time, I was just shocked. Imagine America’s number one builder advocating a factual defense that this is how everyone does it.”
Lucey said the goal in this case was about finding a way to fund repairs for his clients to be able to live comfortably and safely in their homes.
“A homeowner actually testified that some stones fell off her house and hit her in the head when she was walking out of the garage,” Lucey said.
The state of South Carolina is a fix or disclose state, meaning you have to disclose defects to a home buyer or you can be sued for them. Lucey said not fixing these problems with the homes would impact future sales of the homes.
“They call themselves production builders, but we refer to them as track home builders,” Lucey said. “What they are doing in this state, and other states, but obviously I have more concern about this state, what they are doing throughout this state is just wrong.”
