Owners sue Quadrant Homes over 'sick' houses

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Owners sue Quadrant Homes over 'sick' houses

http://www.seattlep i.com/local/ 412486_quadrant1 9.html

Mold, cold making residents ill, owners allege

By LEVI PULKKINEN

SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Winter hits hard at Jon Sigafoos' home, harder, he says, than it ought.

His family of four moved into the Quadrant Corp.-built home four years ago,

taking up residence in a newly constructed neighborhood at Bonney Lake.

It didn't take long, Jon Sigafoos said, to realize the house wasn't all it

had been promised to be.

Sold on its square footage -- Quadrant advertisements run during the housing

boom presented a family lost in its living room -- the house lacked a heater

powerful enough to warm all that space, Sigafoos said. Sections of the home

had been left without insulation by crews working for the Weyerhaeuser

Co.-owned developer, he claimed, and wet materials used during the house's

rushed construction provided a foothold for mold.

Those flaws, unexpected in the new home, have left Sigafoos, his wife and

two children sick even during the warm, drier months, he said. In winter,

problems with the home have forced them to abandon much of the house due to

the cold and spend their time together sealed in the master bedroom.

" It's literally an icebox, " Sigafoos said. " I don't want to sound like we

live a pitiful life or anything, but I can't say it's great living in that

house.

" The thing that's frustrating is that (Quadrant) was totally aware of these

problems and they didn't tell anybody. . If I could sum it up in one word,

that'd be cold. "

Following on an earlier civil suit against Quadrant by 10 families, the

Sigafoos family and three others are currently pursuing a potential

class-action lawsuit against Quadrant Homes.

As in the previous action, which ended in a confidential settlement, the

homeowners allege the mega homebuilder sold thousands of houses around

Western Washington without paying adequate attention to quality control.

Further, the owners claim Quadrant concealed defects within the homes from

prospective buyers before hustling them through an accelerated purchase

process.

Contacted for comment, a Quadrant spokeswoman declined to address the

allegations specifically except to issue a general denial.

" Because this issue is currently in litigation, Quadrant is constrained in

making public comment about it, " spokeswoman Kate Tate said by e-mail. " We

can say that we are proud of the quality homes Quadrant builds, the

construction practices we use, and the customer service we provide to all

homeowners. "

In court documents, attorneys for the homeowners allege " widespread, shoddy

construction " in Quadrant homes has left an unknown number of customers with

" sick houses. "

The homeowners contend that mold growing in the houses -- flowering, they

claim, because rushed construction schedules didn't leave time to dry wet

building materials -- is circulated through poorly designed and badly built

heating systems, poisoning occupants.

During the boom years, Quadrant boasted through promotional materials that

its homes were constructed on a 54-day construction schedule. Time-lapse

photography available on the company Web site shows a two-story home

springing from bare ground, finishing with a new owner backing a U-Haul

truck into the driveway.

When mold was found, one Quadrant production manager said during a

deposition, it was sponged with a bleach solution and scrubbed before the

home was finished. The company didn't tell prospective buyers when mold was

found, the production manager said in court documents; like other issues

arising during construction, the builder didn't feel it necessary to notify

buyers of a problem that had been solved.

After mold was found in the attic of a house in a Snoqualmie development,

inspectors found that a dryer vent had been routed to the attic but never

piped through to the outdoors, according to depositions taken by the

plaintiffs' attorneys, Lory Lybeck and Felton of the Mercer Island

firm Lybeck LLP. In another home, remediation crews found more than

1,200 square feet of mold.

" Like with thousands of other (homebuyers) , Quadrant did not sell (the

plaintiffs) the home it represented, " Lybeck said in court documents.

" Instead their home is unhealthy with serious air quality issues and other

related problems. "

Reviewing the claims by 27 residents of Quadrant, industrial hygienist

Copeland found that each case involved " the issue of unhealthy air

arising from the same common set of conditions including inadequate air flow

and air exchange within the home and excessive moisture resulting in the

growth and accumulation of mold. "

" These common conditions combine to create an unhealthy and 'toxic soup'

affecting the air quality in the homes, " Copeland said in a Feb. 21, 2008,

declaration filed in King County Superior Court.

For the Sigafoos family and several others, that " soup " has allegedly

resulted in a string of illnesses that threaten to become chronic.

Sigafoos said his two young children, aged 8 and 3, see their health improve

whenever they get a chance to be out of the home for a week or so. But the

asthma, respiratory infections and sinus trouble returns when they come

home.

After examining the family as part of the lawsuit, Dr. Keifer, a

professor of internal medicine with the University of Washington, found that

the house was to blame.

" The longer the Sigafoos family live in and are exposed to the conditions in

their Quadrant home, the greater the risk that the health problems caused to

each of them will become chronic or permanent even after they are removed

from the unhealthy environment, " Keifer said in a declaration filed with the

court. " It is in the best interest of each of the Sigafoos family members to

remove themselves (from) the harmful air quality in their Quadrant home as

soon as they reasonably can. "

Declarations filed on behalf of other families involved in the suit offer

similar opinions. The homes, the doctors hired by the plaintiffs found, are

making their owners sick.

In summer months, Sigafoos said, his family can air out the home enough to

make it reasonably habitable. When the temperatures drop, though, that

ceases to be an option.

Due to concerns about dusting his children with mold spores, Sigafoos said

he can't run the furnace. Instead, he said, his family retreats to the

master bedroom of the three-bedroom home where, with space heaters and a gas

fireplace, they can push temperatures closer to livable.

Last winter, Sigafoos said, heath concerns drove his family to move into a

travel trailer parked at a friend's home. Finding that living arrangement

little better, he said they will try to stay in the house this year.

" It's just a battle every day, " said Sigafoos, who does engineering and

drafting for a Puget Sound-area city government. " It's just no fun waking up

in the morning when it's just freezing. "

Writing the court, Weyerhaeuser attorney R. contended that the

corporation cannot be held liable for any actions of Quadrant, a wholly

owned subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co. that is in turned owned by

the Federal Way-based wood products giant. The plaintiffs had named

Weyerhaeuser and its real estate firm as defendants in the litigation.

Arguing on behalf of Quadrant, said the homeowners' complaints should

be handled through out-of-court arbitration as he alleges the sale

agreements signed by the home buyers requires. Such a move would place the

litigation outside the county court system and, as such, would remain

largely private.

Reviewing a decision by King County Superior Court Judge Washington to

allow the litigation to move forward, the state Court of Appeals for

Division One reversed Washington's ruling last month and found that the

arbitration cause was valid. Both parties have since asked that the

three-judge panel to reconsider its decision, which would see Washington

review the case to determine whether any claims made fall outside the

arbitration agreement.

Sigafoos said he wants to see the case resolved but has little faith in the

closed-door arbitration process. Until then, he said he and his family

remain stuck in a home they can't leave and can't really live in.

In his view, Quadrant is simply attempting to delay litigation as long as

possible in the hope that the company can wait out the homeowners.

" You're dealing with real people who've got kids, " Sigafoos said. " You're

dealing with families who are just trying to live everyday life. . It's

like, why don't you just come to the table and try to resolve this. "

Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or

levipulkkinen@ seattlepi. com.