Plaintiffs sued a national homebuilder for construction defects in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lawsuit involved a North Las Vegas residential project with an extensive list of claimed defects. The homeowners’ primary claim alleged that untreated expansive soils caused the homes to move excessively, which damaged the homes and necessitated over $150,000 in repairs at each home. Before trial, two homeowners rejected the homebuilders’ $28,000 Offer of Judgment per home and the case proceeded to trial.
At trial, attorney Adam Springel admitted liability for several architectural issues, but contested the homeowners’ soils and structural claims. After a month-long trial, the jury unanimously rendered verdicts of $3,793.20 and $10,586.25 for the homeowners, amounts below the damages conceded at trial by the homebuilder.
During post-trial motions, the two homeowners sought over $1.5 million in attorney’s fees, expert fees, and interest from the homebuilder because they received a verdict in their favor. Trial attorney Adam Springel filed a competing motion to recover the homebuilder’s attorney’s fees and expert fees contending the verdicts beat the homebuilder’s pre-trial Offers of Judgment. After more than a year arguing these post-trial motions, the Court ultimately agreed Plaintiffs unreasonably rejected the homebuilders’ Offers of Judgment and ordered Plaintiffs to reimburse the homebuilder over $869,000. Plaintiffs appealed this verdict and the Nevada Supreme Court later upheld the entire verdict.
To learn more about this case, please contact Adam Springel.