Dive Brief:
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Attorneys in Seattle filed the largest class-action lawsuit in the city’s history this week—against homebuilding giant Shea Homes.
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Homeowners who live in the builder’s Trilogy Redmond Ridge community have long claimed their roofs are improperly flashed, promoting mold, and that the houses are so poorly sealed that “rats, mice, squirrels, frogs, insects and other vermin” have been able to get inside the walls, “resulting in widespread wood rot and infestations."
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The builder responded that the lawsuit is “misleading, intentionally inflammatory and unnecessary.”
Dive Insight:
This isn’t the first lawsuit filed against Shea by owners in this over-55 development, but it’s the biggest, with 1,500 plaintiffs. The community has 1,521 homes. The remaining 21 owners apparently have chosen to repair their homes rather than join the lawsuit.
But an attorney for the class has encouraged them to join the legal action, saying correcting the problems “may take years to resolve and may not be successful.”