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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
FAMILIES
WHO LOST DEPOSITS WHEN DEVELOPER ABANDONED THEIR PROJECT FILE
SUIT AGAINST STATE'S CONSTRUCTION LICENSING BOARD
State Sets Aside Recovery Fund To Compensate Families
FORT LAUDERDALE,
FL -
The law firm of Oppenheim Pilelsky has filed a lawsuit against
the State of Florida Construction Licensing Board and the Florida
Construction Industries Recovery Fund on behalf of 12 Broward
families who lost tens of thousands of dollars when their dream
homes were never built.
The families
lost a total of $236, 682 in down payments when Treasured Spaces,
the builder of their homes, in La Costa Development shut its doors.
The company abandoned the project in 1995 after completing only
30 of the 70 planned homes. In addition, 22 homees were left unfinished
and 18 lots were never developed.
The families
sued and obtained a Judgment against the defunct developer for
$250,000 last year. That's when they resorted to the State's Construction
Recovery Fund, which was established to reimburse home buyers
who were exploited by defunct builders. In fact, it was the largest
amount ever awarded to a group of claimants at one time.
They received
$100,000 in payment, which was the Construction Recovery Fund's
cap at the time. That's when Oppenheim Pilelsky got State
Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Senator Howard Forman
to sponsor legislation beefing up the recovery fund, and increasing
the total aggregate cap from $100,000 to $250,000, with a retroactive
provision taking these 12 claimants into account. As a result,
the families requested in January of this year that they receive
the payments under the new Statute.
A recent agreed
order has been approved by the state of Florida and will be signed
by Judge Green. By this order, the state agrees to set aside $134,682,
the amount for which Oppenheim and Pilelsky was suing, in a segregated
account thereby ensuring the families will be paid, if indeed
the new statute requires such payment.
"They
lost their dream homes, and in many cases, their life's savings
and they thought things were looking up when we had the new law
passed to get them paid in full," said Oppenheim, a partner
at the law firm of Oppenheim Pilelsky in Weston. "Now
things seem to be headed in the right direction with this new
agree order by the state," he added.
"The
lawsuit is also going to prevent the Fund from continuing to dole
out money to other claimants who have a lower priority than our
clients," said Oppenheim.
"The
irony of it is that the Recovery Fund has already depleted its
resources for the 1999 fiscal year, and now doesn't have a pot
to piss in."
"The
real purpose of this lawsuit, is to make sure that come the fiscal
year 2000, that our clients are the first to get paid, since they
should have been paid before the Fund was depleted," added
Oppenheim.
/CONTACT:
Julie Silver or Christine Manna at Boardroom Communications (954)
321-6334, or via e-mail at boardroom@aol.com, both for Oppenheim Pilelsky.
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