Background
The Nevada State Assembly
was tasked with considering two bills authored in the Nevada State
Senate known as SB337 &
SB349 during the 2009 legislative session. These bills would have
amended the construction defect sections of the Nevada Revised Statues, specifically
Chapter 40.
These two bills were
written, not to benefit consumers, homebuyers or our communities in any
fashion. They were written to provide colossal protections to the
builders of defective housing who wreck havoc on individuals,
neighborhoods and our towns and cities. They were massive one-sided
attempts to modify legislation such that it would have devastated the
rights of homeowners to safe and habitable housing.
Senate
Bill 337
One bill would have severely
limited the amount of time a homebuyer had to find defective
construction. As many homebuyers have discovered, it can take
years for the consequences of defective construction to show up.
Construction defects can be hidden and the problems can take a long time
to become visible.
SB337 would have
shortened the time for these hidden or latent defects to be discovered
so much that the builders would have been let off the hook for
their shoddy workmanship long before the discovery by the homeowners. It would have
done nothing but encourage the homebuilders to cut corners, violate
building codes and hide their defects because the homeowner would have
no recourse once the consequences became apparent.
Senate
Bill 349
The other bill, SB349,
would have been the last nail in the coffin for homeowners. It
provided for multifaceted attacks on current homeowner
protections.
In part, it would have so
severely bound the definition of what amounted to construction defects,
that it would have been nearly impossible for the builder to be held
accountable for their shoddy workmanship. No longer would the
builders be held accountable for, at a MINIMUM, meeting the building
codes. No longer could a homebuyer be minimally confident that a
house would provide a safe, secure and habitable residence. No
longer could the homeowner require their builder to correct violations
of the building codes and then seek redress for the builder's refusals to fix their shoddy workmanship.
SB349 would have
turned an already uneven playing field into one heavily weighted in favor
of the builders of defective housing. Current law allows for the
loser of a construction defect action to be responsible for the attorney
fees of all parties. It makes sense and helps level the playing
field.
If a builder forces legal
actions by refusing to fix their defective construction, and tortures a
homeowner by requiring them to live with the consequences of the
builder's construction defects, then the builder should have to pay the
expenses they forced on the homeowner. It would allow the
homeowner to apply the full award to fix the defects that the builder
despicably denied.
On the other hand, if the
homeowner truly does not have any construction defects in his house, and
the lawsuit was without merit, current law makes the homeowner
responsible for all attorney fees. It would be determined in court
and the builder would not be punished for wrongs they did not
commit. They have nothing to fear.
However, SB349 would have
ended the application of attorney fees to the losing party. It
would have required each party to be responsible for their own attorney
costs. This presents a problem. It's chilling on any attempt
to hold a builder accountable for their defective construction and
emboldens those builders who would be willing to save money by failing
to build houses that comply with the building codes. Let's explain.
First and foremost, let's
recognize that a conflict with a builder over defective construction is
usually a "David and Goliath" story. The builder is most
often a well-funded, large, multi-state corporation, often with long
relationships with attorneys, who can easily afford the costs of
litigation.
The homeowner on the
other hand is most often a hard-working family man, who stretched to
provide his family with decent and safe housing that at a minimum met
the basic standards of habitability established by the building
codes. They often spent close to their last dollar on their home
and they do not have the ability to fund litigation to hold the builder
responsible for shoddy workmanship.
Under SB349, homeowners
would have been required to pay their attorney, up front, since the fees
could not be attached to the builder when he loses. The attorneys
would not take the cases on contingency.
Once they won, the
homeowner would then be left without enough money to fix the defects
that the builder had saddled on them. They would be out the costs
of holding the builder accountable for their defective construction and
only have enough money to fix some of the defects.
Effectively, the
homeowner would be punished for seeking redress for the wrongs that that
been perpetrated on them while the builder would be encouraged to cut
corners because their chances of being held accountable would be slim to
none. Had SB349 passed, it would have had terrible consequences
on, not only homeowners, but also communities in the entire State of
Nevada.
Thank
You!
However, thanks to the
2009 Nevada Assembly, these two bills were killed in the Judicial
Committee. They will not become law in this legislative
session.
The defeat of these bills
is of great benefit to the little guy, the "David," the
consumer, the homebuyer, the homeowner and anyone who rents or lives in
a house. We thank those legislators who were responsible for
defeating the legislation. We thank them for their foresight,
integrity and willingness to stand-up for the little guy. We thank
them for their willingness to face down "Goliath" and tell him
that today, he will not devastate our communities.
We also thank them for
sending the building industry the message that the defeat of these bills
is not meant as a punishment. It is meant as a message that
homebuilders are simply expected to do their jobs the right way, not in
a superior fashion unless they promise to do so, but in the right way
that meets the MINIMUM standards of habitability established by the
building codes and codified throughout the State. Anything less
can harm the health, welfare, and safety of the homeowners and the
community and it will reflect poorly on the building industry as a
whole.
If a builder simply did
their job the right way, they would have nothing to fear. If a
builder simply responded to their homeowners when mistakes were found
and resolved the situation, their actions would reflect well on the
industry as a whole.
However, if a builder
insists on hiding their defects, denying their undeniable defects and/or
torturing their homebuyers through refusals to do the right thing and
resolve their defective construction, they will be held
accountable. It would simply be the consequences of their
actions
Again, we thank the
legislators who didn't turn their backs on their constituents. We
thank those legislators who stood up for the little guy. We also
thank those legislators with the fortitude to stand against those who
want to damage the integrity of our communities. We want to thank
them for killing Nevada Senate Bills, No. 337 and 349.
Thank
you!
Additional
We'd also like to thank those
Nevada Legislators who took the time to read our correspondence to
their offices and who have taken the time to speak with us. Your
schedules are demanding but it's good to know that you will take the
time out of your day to consider the opinions and insight of your
constituents, especially those with direct experience with situations
that would be severely affected by legislation under your consideration.
We would also like to thank those
Legislators and employees who have taken time to visit our
website. We lost count at over two dozen separate accesses from ip
addresses associated with the State of Nevada in Carson City. We are confident
that you found our information, evidence, opinions, pleas and grievances
of value when you considered the implication of Senate Bills 337 & 349.
Although we'd like to
think we had an effect on the disposition of this horrendous
legislation, the ultimate credit for their defeat goes to the 2009
Nevada Legislature. We were just one voice in a chorus. The
full credit for protecting our communities goes entirely to those legislators who
confronted the pressure placed on
them by building industry lobbyists and had the vision to foresee the
damage the passage of the bills would have caused to the State, our
communities and future homebuyers.
Thank You for acting
to protect the little guy
and
for defending the
health and welfare of
the State of Nevada
as a whole!
~ASynconHome.info
Posted: May 19, 2009
