Click for printable version
Click to send to a friend

Sun City Summerlin residents Stan Bjonerud, Fred Schaefer and Bernard Silver, from left, inspect work being done in their neighborhood to repair faulty plumbing. Homeowners in the Del Webb retirement community sued the developer Tuesday, saying their top priority is to engage Del Webb in discussions about replumbing their homes. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Wednesday, July 18, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CONSTRUCTION: Sun City residents sue

Lawsuit against Del Webb seeks defect fixes, not money

A group of Sun City Summerlin homeowners filed a lawsuit Tuesday against developer Del Webb Corp. for faulty plumbing conditions at about 6,500 homes in the Las Vegas retirement community.

Dan Geary, spokesman for the law firm Feinberg, Grant, Kaneda and Litt, said the residents' lawsuit, unlike most construction defect litigation, does not seek a monetary award. The plaintiffs instead seek to have new plumbing installed in their homes.

The lawsuit is the latest effort by residents to have Del Webb address the "widespread plumbing defects," Geary said. The lawsuit charges that the underground pipes are corroding and failing because of improper installation, specifically that they were not fitted with protective sleeves despite being exposed to caustic soil in the area.

"The primary objective of the homeowners is not to have a lawsuit, but to have their homes replumbed," he said. "Del Webb has already acknowledged the problem and they've been a good neighbor to those who've had failures, but they refuse to address the overall problem."

Stan Bjonerud, a Sun City homeowner and retired engineer, said nothing has gone wrong with his house in the 8 1/2 years since he bought it, but he knows of seven neighbors "within a stone's throw of here" who've had leaks and pipe failures in their plumbing.

"The situation is there are 6,500 homes within the 7,700 homes here that have underslab copper piping and those pipes have been failing because of the alkaline nature of the soil," he said.

"Del Webb is a good corporation and we couldn't be happier here. The point is that failures are occurring and will continue to occur and there's a statute of limitation here of 10 years on construction defects."

Bjonerud said the piping should have been put in overhead, in the attic, to avoid contact with the soil.

Del Webb spokesman Sean Patrick said the company became aware of the situation a couple of years ago and switched from copper to kitec, which is coated to protect against corrosion, and changed installation techniques.

Del Webb fixed about 300 of the faulty lines at no expense to homeowners, he said.

"So we feel we did the right thing, the moral and ethical thing," Patrick said. "I think the lawsuit is a perfect example of construction defect attorneys run amok. They're pandering to the fear of the residents."