News
Litigation
Feb. 22, 2002
Owners Win $14 Million to Fix Leaky Housing
LOS ANGELES - The architect, general contractor and several subcontractors agreed to pay nearly $14 million to fix a low-income housing complex in Boyle Heights where residents have dealt with massive leaks almost from the day it was completed in 1997.
Rio Vista Village was hailed as a model project when residents began moving in. The project has two-, three- and four-bedroom units, a playground and other amenities suitable for families. But the following winter, when the El Nino rains came, the residents got a terrible shock.
Nearly all of the 75 units in the complex had leaking problems, some so bad that residents were forced to move out. Three units remain unlivable.
"It was obvious that something was fundamentally wrong with the construction design," said lawyer Timothy D. Reuben of Reuben & Novicoff in Beverly Hills.
Reuben represented Rio Vista Village Limited Partnership in a lawsuit against the general contractor, Rio Vista Associates, the architect, Leidenfrost/Horowitz & Associates, and nearly a dozen subcontractors. Frank Thomas Sabaitis of Sabaitis O'Callaghan in downtown Los Angeles was the lead lawyer for the defendants. He could not be reached for comment.
It turned out that the design and construction of exterior walkways was defective, which caused water that should have drained off to run back into the building, Reuben said. The water drained into the walls, causing them to rot, Reuben said.
Rio Vista partnership officials have struggled on a tight budget to keep the place open, Reuben said.
"It's been an enormous effort to keep those units livable," he said. "All they could do was put their fingers in the dike."
On Wednesday, just as the case was about to go to trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, all that ended when the defendants agreed to pay $13.7 million to the partnership.
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David Houston
Daily Journal Staff Writer
davidhouston@runbox.com
davidhouston@runbox.com
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