News Archive
Residents File Suit For $10 Million
Camarillo Springs: Homeowners say cracks have grown longer and wider in the past two years.
Robert and Joan Purcell can put a golf ball on their kitchen floor and watch it quickly roll across the white tile floor. For the past two years, the two have seen the cracks in their Camarillo Springs home grow longer and wider. "Our house is sinking," Joan said. "The closet doors don't close. The fireplace doors stay open because the house is leaning. I don't feel safe here."
The Camarillo Miramonte Homeowners' Association on Thursday filed a $10 million lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court against the developer and several subcontractors. The lawsuit alleges that Castle & Cooke Homes, Inc. promised to fix leaky roofs, windows and balconies but instead made phony repairs, and a company manager allegedly gave kickbacks to the subcontractors.
The home builder, along with Dole Foods, Inc., of Westlake Village, which at one time owned the real estate company, and Barclay-Hollander are named in the lawsuit.
Castle & Cooke said it had not been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on the specifics. the company said it has made more than $3 million in repairs. "We are very disappointed that the Homeowners' Association has chosen to pursue litigation in lieu of continuing to work with Castle & Cooke to complete any remaining repair work," the statement said.
The condominium complex is next to the Camarillo Springs Golf Course, off the Conejo Grade. The complex was built in five phases during the early 1980s and 1990s. The condominiums initially sold for between $175,000 and $205,00.
Attorney Alex Robertson said that at least 42 condominiums in the 218-unit complex either have leaky roofs or significant cracking in the foundation and walls. A retaining wall along a complex on Paseo Encantada near the golf course is giving way, causing a row of townhomes to sink as much as six inches, Robertson said.
The homeowners threatened to sue the developers in 1995, but agreed instead to allow the company to repair the leaky roofs and fix the cracking problem, Robertson said. The association says that although some of the repairs were made over a two-year period, many of the repairs were not made or faked by contractors. "The homeowner association extended their good will and trust and confidence to the builders," Robertson said. "That trust, confidence and good will was violated."
Robertson's law firm received a $3 million settlement for a homeowner association in 1995 in the sprawling condominium complex. The complex has three different homeowner associations.
Attorneys said one of the workers hired to do repairs approached the homeowner association in January about alleged kickbacks. Carlos Monroy of Oxnard told the association that contractors did not do any of the repairs, according to the lawsuit.
Monroy said he was told on numerous occasions to, "place plenty of ladders," around the project and to keep people looking "busy," the lawsuit states. Monroy told the association he received $70,000, even though he never submitted any invoices for the work at the property, according to the lawsuit.
About $3 million for work was paid by the developer's insurance company, Robertson said. Robertson said investigators with the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and the state are looking into the alleged kickbacks. Neither state agency would comment about an investigation. "We're cooperating with them," Robertson said, "I shouldn't say any more than that."
Homeowner association president Diana Busman said the residents just want the work done right. Busman showed reporters through a condominium, where several large cracks ran through the floor and the walls. The owner had to pull mirrors off the wall because they kept popping off as a result of the sinking, she said. "Would you want to live there?" Busman asked. "They're stuck with that place."