Homeowners, developer settle suit for $6.8 million

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A group of homeowners reached a $6.8 million

settlement last month in its lawsuit against a Long Beach developer.

“Thank God it’s over,” said James Poer, president of the Huntington

Bayshore Community Assn.

The association is made up of 159 condominium owners living in an

eight-year old residential community on 400 Lake Street.

The case, filed June 1997, alleged that the homes suffered from a host of

design and construction problems that caused electrical malfunctions and

major water leaks, among other things, said Newport Beach attorney Ross

Feinberg, who represented the association.

Attorneys for Newcomb Development did not return phone calls.

The settlement, reached Nov. 18, will help repair most but not all of the

defects, Poer said.

“Everybody always wants more,” he said.

The money will go to the association and not to individual homeowners,

Feinberg said.

In June, homeowners at Seacliff on the Green settled a suit for $3.1

million that also alleged major water leaks.

Based on similar claims, two other groups of homeowners from the same

community already had received $6.2 million in March 1997 and $4.7

million in August 1997. The developer of those projects was Irvine-based

Cayman Development Co.