In March 2018, Stutman Law successfully litigated a construction defect case against The David Cutler Group, the self-proclaimed largest privately owned residential builder in the Delaware Valley. After a three-day trial, a Montgomery County jury deliberated for approximately one hour and returned a verdict for Stutman Law’s clients, awarding them full damages in the amount of $66,250.00 for remediation expenses along with attorney fees and court costs.
Attorneys Daniel Hogan and Thomas Marsh with Stutman Law tried the case for Plaintiffs and successfully proved that Cutler had breached both express and implied warranties associated with its construction and sale of a luxury home. During the trial, Stutman Law’s attorneys presented evidence to the jury which showed that a luxury home built by Cutler and sold to the Plaintiffs in 2006 for $569,950.00 consisted of stucco veneer walls that absorbed rain water and rotted over time. In particular, they presented evidence which showed that, after purchasing the home, Plaintiffs had complained to Cutler on multiple occasions about water intruding into their home near windows. Despite repeated Complaints of moisture infiltration, Cutler never fixed the defects which plagued Plaintiffs’ home nor warned them that the repeated episodes of water intrusion was slowly destroying the home’s walls. Ultimately, when the Plaintiffs attempted to sell their home in 2013, a series of home and stucco inspections revealed that their stucco veneer walls were not only saturated with water but had also begun to rot internally. Consequently, they were required to pay $66,250.00 to remediate the damage and sell their home. At the conclusion of the trial, Stutman Law’s attorneys argued that Cutler had breached the home’s express warranty, as well as the implied warranties of habitability and workmanlike construction, because the luxury home sold to Plaintiffs failed to provide the most basic protections afforded by any home – it failed to repel rain water and protect them from the elements. After a short deliberation, the jury found in favor of Stutman Law’s clients on each count and awarded Stutman Law’s clients full repair cost along with attorney fees and costs.