Bob & Jane Cull’s fight with homebuilder Bob Perry is back in court

By Wayne Slater, The Dallas Morning News, 2/9/2010

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/columnists/wslater/stories/021010dntexslater.10075e2ff.html 

When Bob and Jane Cull returned to court last week in their decade-long legal battle against homebuilder Bob Perry, it was like starting all over again.

[HOT: We too often hear examples of where powerful builders with more financial and legal resources drag out disputes in order to “wear down” their homeowner opponents.]

Jane Cull’s “nightmare,” as she calls it, has been bouncing from court to court for years.

“We’re just wondering, when will it ever end?” she said the other day in downtown Fort Worth, where their case is back in district court. Again.

The Culls are a retirement-age couple who say Perry Homes built a defective house with a broken foundation and cracked walls, but won’t fix it. The Mansfield couple took their case to arbitration and won an $800,000 award — but Perry refused to pay, saying the couple had waived their legal rights to arbitrate.

Years of appeals followed. Lower court judges ruled in the Culls’ favor, directing Perry to pay. The builder appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, whose members have all received campaign contributions from Perry, the state’s most prolific political giver.

After reviewing the case more than a year, the Supreme Court wiped out the award and sent the case back to district court.

To some, the case has become symbolic of the difficulty an average homeowner faces in going up against a politically well-connected builder with deep pockets.

Perry has given millions of dollars to politicians, including Gov. Rick Perry (no relation), who have advanced his agenda of tort reform to curb lawsuits and limit jury awards against business.

As the trial opened last week, Jane Cull took the stand. Bob Cull, in a wheelchair now because of health problems, sat waiting his turn to testify.

“Is it fair to say that you felt Band-Aids were being placed on your property, but not surgery?” attorney Daniel Hagood asked Jane Cull, his client.

She nodded. “We saved our whole life for this house, and now it’s not stable,” Cull said. “We don’t have the money to fix it. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”

She testified that the house continues to move and crack, and it worries her when grandchildren visit.

Perry’s attorneys say that whatever the claims of earlier problems, there’s nothing wrong with the house. They showed the jury photos of smooth walls, doors closed, windows shut tight. The Culls’ lawyers countered with photos of their own — cracked walls, a broken foundation, the roof heaving up.

In the beginning, the Culls wrote Bob Perry, thinking that if they explained the problem he would fix it. When he didn’t, they filed suit, but they switched to arbitration because they feared a long legal battle. Now, that’s exactly where they find themselves.

Sitting in the hallway of the courthouse during a break in the trial last Friday, Jane Cull said she fears the fight could sap not just their savings but also their energy.

“Bob Perry doesn’t have to watch the money clock,” she said. “He has pockets deeper than the ocean.”

Bob Perry: political money machine not slowing down 

By Wayne Slater, The Dallas Morning News, 2/9/2010

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/02/bob-perry-political-money-mach.html  

Houston homebuilder Bob Perry shows no signs of slowing down as the biggest campaign contributor in Texas. As I reported today, Perry's back in the news -- his decade-long legal battle against a retirement-age couple over a defective house is in district court in Fort Worth.

Bottom line: An independent arbiter ordered Perry to pay $800,000, but he refused. Although the arbiter and lower courts all directed Perry to pay, the builder appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, whose members have all received campaign contributions from Perry. The Supreme Court ruled Perry's way and sent the case back to district court to start all over again.

Perry has given millions of dollars to politicians, including Gov. Rick Perry (no relation), who have advanced his agenda of tort reform to curb lawsuits and limit jury awards against business. And the latest round of campaign reports indicates the state's most prolific giver is still giving.

According to their year-end report, Perry recently gave $1.5 million to the Republican Governors Association. Rick Perry is the group's past president and helps direct its fundraising. The RGA doesn't endorse in the primary. But the group delivered $1 million to Gov. Perry in the 2006 general election -- and presumably would be a source of campaign cash if Perry gets the nomination this year.

While Bob Perry had given contributions to every member of the Supreme Court at the time the panel ruled in his favor earlier in the case, there have been some changes in the court since then. The court now has a new member appointed by the governor -- Republican Eva Guzman. The case could find its way back before the Supreme Court on appeals. Last month, the Perry-funded political committee Hillco delivered $10,000 to Guzman, the court's newest jurist.

Representative Reader Comments:

By Childhood Friend 

In 1942, Jane Cull's father built a house and sold it to my father. It remained my family home until my mother's death in 2006. In 64 years, that house had fewer problems than Jane & Bob's house has had in 10 years. Because Perry Homes has refused to abide by previous rulings, Jane and Bob are forced to keep pleading their case, or be left with a worthless money pit of a house. Each time they have to pay court costs and expert witnesses that devour their retirement savings. The stress of the cases also takes a mental and physical toll on each of them. No award would be too high for what I have watched Jane and Bob endure because Perry Homes refuses to accept previous rulings.

By rexaplenty 

. . . To me, I think $8 million is not enough to compensate this couple for the deliberate bad faith practices that Perry homes puts the public through to cover up their shoddy, sub-standard work.

By CADean 

As a kid I saw the internal damage and strife brought to my family when a contractor lied. My parents had a beautiful addition added on to the house and while the cosmetic side of that addition was published in Better Homes and Gardens the contractors’ errors were felt by my parents making the whole experience miserable. As I grew up I found that engineering was my passion and I liked the fact that as an engineer your thought process must be conditioned and disciplined so in the event a mistake occurs you can identify the error and correct it. The degree to which the engineer displays accountably by taking ownership determines a great deal and it also helps prevent that person from bringing disgrace on the profession. The building industry owes a great deal to the engineering industry; the two should be working hand in hand to provide Americans and Texans the best products possible! . . . That goes all the way back to the ancient builders who built the cathedrals, and for the courts to support the lack of [problem] ownership and even encourage the return to the lower courts indicates a lack of solid values in craftsmanship and integrity.

By Bigal 

This is what you voted for!!!  . . . The alternative (government working on behalf of the people) is labeled in Texas as "Socialist" and never wins in elections. When you only consider voting for one party (republican in Texas' case) they quickly become corrupt. Texas corruption makes Chicago corruption look tame.

By toppertx 

Bigal is absolutely right. The Republicans bought into tort reform hook, line and sinker because that is where the campaign money is. If you think you get screwed with a bad house, wait until you suffer malpractice by a doctor. Then you will really cry your eyes out.

By Riggs 

Perry is a frivolous lawsuit defender. When he is dead, thousands will remember him as a mean and selfish non-charitable old man. Such a shame when he has an opportunity to do great good.