September 9, 1996 - Thomas E. Miller Will Not Buy A Newly Built Home.
As an attorney
who has spent the last 15 years helping new home buyers recover damages
for leaky roofs, shifting foundations and cracking plaster, he believes
the odds of finding a trouble-free house or condominium aren't good.
"You've got a 50% chance or less of finding something that meets minimum
building standards," said Miller, the 48-year-old author of two textbooks
on California home construction defect law. "We're not talking about
great craftsmanship. We're just talking about a builder who complies with
the minimum building code standards."
After spending the first part of his 23-year legal career representing developers,
Miller switched sides in 1981 to fight what he terms a near-epidemic of
faulty home construction in Southern California. A shortage of journeyman
carpenters and skilled subcontractors is only part of the problem, he said.
"You've got the builders looking at the industry, not from a sense
of pride, but from a business perspective. I'm not faulting them, but there
used to be a nice blending of pride and profit. Now we mostly see the profit
side of the equation. We see builders who are now publicly traded corporations.
And we see the family home builder going out of business. They're getting
squeezed out of the business by the bigger conglomerate builders."
Miller dates the decline of home-building standards in California back to
the 1980's real estate boom. "The mass production of homes became a
huge profit center for the builders. The demand for new homes was significant
and the banks were lending a lot of money to the developers to build these
projects. There were no lending limits and the builders were moving rapidly
from one project to the next."
Changes in the law have given homeowners new leverage in seeking compensation
for construction defects, Miller said. But some of the biggest settlements
are shielded from public view.
"Developers spend tons of money building their image. If you read their
sales brochures and their sales literature, all of that presents a strong
image to the home buyer: They've been in business for many, mean years and
they've built all these wonderful developments. If we really dig deep enough,
you will find out that most of these major home builders have been sued
time and again for construction defects. But they like to bury their mistakes.
We are often asked to enter into a confidentiality agreement where we cannot
disclose the nature of the settlement, who the builder was, or anything
about the problems of that development."
Much of the legal leverage Miller uses to represent home buyers stems from
the precedent-setting 1981 Del Mar Beach Club case, a case he lost. He was
representing San Diego condominium developers being sued by residents who
were worried about the rapid rate of soil erosion on the bluffs near their
building.
"The residents filed a motion with the court to say that buying a condominium
should be no different than buying any other kind of consumer product -
like a car of hair dryer - therefore the burden for any problems ought to
shift back to the manufacturer, or the developer in this case."
California law had previously required proof of negligence before damages
could be recovered. But a state appeals court in San Diego sided with the
condominium owners.
"The court of appeals came back and said strict liability is going
to be the standard henceforth in California. That was a pivotal point in
my career."
Soon after the court decision, Miller stopped defending developers and began
his own law firm, to represent homeowners and their associations. He has
since found that the most common problem reported by new home buyers is
water leakage. "That's a signal. If the builders can't get that right,
what have they done with the more difficult portions of the structure?"
Home construction defects also frequently involve soil grading and the overall
stability of the building. "For example, you have anchor bolts that
are supposed to be tied down to the foundation. But so many times we find
them either misplaced or not tied down, or not enough of them. In an earthquake,
that kind of problem can cause the home to shift off its foundation."
Miller considers it cheap insurance for the prospective home buyer to hire
an independent, licensed and bonded inspector to take a close look at the
building and its architectural plans. And he warns new homeowners that once
a problem is detected, they only have three years to bring legal action
against a builder, who may try to stall them with temporary repairs.
Profile: Thomas E. Miller
Age: 48
Hometown: Pittsburgh
Residence: Balboa Island
Family: Married to Christine; two adult children
Education: Bachelor's degree in communications from Cal State
Long Beach; law degree from the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco
Background: An attorney with the San Diego law firm of Higgs, Fletcher
& Mack for seven years, representing developers and homeowners; founded
his own law firm in 1981 to exclusively represent the victims of faulty
home construction; moved his law firm to Newport Beach in 1994, with satellite
offices in San Diego and Los Angeles counties; a member of the state's Legislature's
task force on the future of home building
Academic: The author of two textbooks on construction defects; an
instructor in courses on construction defect litigation at Cal State Long
Beach and UC Irvine; Thomas E. Miller Mock Trial Room dedicated in his honor
at California Western School of Law in 1995
On Home Builders: "If you really dig deep enough, you will find
out that most of these major home builders have been sued time and again
for construction defects. But they like to bury their mistakes. We are often
asked to enter into a confidentiality agreement where we cannot disclose
the nature of the settlement, who the builder was, or anything about the
problems of that development."
© Copyright 2008 The Miller Law Firm. All rights Reserved.
If you experience problems or have questions, contact us at Info@ConstructionDefects.com.
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