Springel & Fink Trial Attorney Darren Ebner Obtains Defense Verdict in $4.2 Million Single-Family Home Construction Defect Case in Orange County Superior Court Jury Trial

Springel & Fink trial attorney Darren Ebner obtained a defense verdict in a $4.2 million multiple defendant construction defect case involving various construction defect claims including hardscape and stucco cracking, pool defects, drainage issues and plumbing leaks, among other claims, at a $25 million single-family custom home in Newport Coast, California.

The homeowner sought damages for the cost to replace the custom driveway, exterior courtyard and stucco, as well as multiple alleged defects with the pool and retaining walls at the property. Plaintiff also sought recovery for loss of use damages exceeding $1.5 million. The five-week jury trial took place in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, California.

Through pre-trial motions, Mr. Ebner convinced the Judge to exclude Plaintiff’s Cost of Repair Estimate as lacking relevance because Plaintiff had already completed the repairs at the property. This required Plaintiff to prove his damages through in-court expert testimony and hundreds of invoices. This made Plaintiff go the long way around in order to establish his damages, which bored the jury and made his case less persuasive.

During the trial, Mr. Ebner successfully argued that our client was not negligent and did not breach its written contract. In addition, Mr. Ebner argued that Plaintiff’s claimed damages of $624,000 against our client were unreasonable based on the evidence presented at trial.

After two days of deliberation, the jury found in favor of our client by a 12-0 vote on both the negligence and breach of contract allegations and awarded Plaintiff no damages from our client.

As a result of the defense verdict, our client also “beat” its prior $85,000 CCP Section 998 Offer to Compromise, which led to a post-verdict settlement with Plaintiff in which Plaintiff agreed to waive any right to appeal and also agreed to pay our client $40,000 in costs.

To learn more about this case, please contact Darren Ebner.