Upset about defects in your brand-new house?
You now have more ammunition to sue the homebuilder, if it comes to that.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that builders must construct “workmanlike” houses, regardless of whether buyers sign contracts limiting what problems the builders have to fix.
The 7-0 decision means two Canal Winchester couples can press ahead with claims that houses they bought in 2004 were magnetized — likely during construction — causing problems with their TVs, cordless phones and computer hard drives.
A Franklin County judge and the Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Centex Homes in recent years, saying warranties signed by the couples did not include magnetization of the houses’ steel framing among a list of problems to be repaired if needed.
But the high court reversed and, without addressing the merits of the magnetic-field allegations, said the couples should have a chance to make their case to a jury.
Builders have a baseline obligation to construct houses in a “workmanlike manner using ordinary care,” Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote.
“The duty does not require builders to be perfect, but it does establish a standard of care below which builders may not fall without being subject to liability, even if a contract with the home buyer purports to relieve the builder of that duty.”
In 2004, couples Paul Jones and Latosha Sanders and Eric and Ginger Estep each paid around $145,000 for new houses built by Centex in Canal Winchester.
After they moved into the homes, they said they discovered that their TV screens were distorted. Cordless phones ran into interference. Computer hard drives were corrupted.
No one is saying exactly how the alleged magnetic fields occurred. Two ways to create a magnet are hammering metal in a north-south direction or passing an electrical current through it.
The ruling — while involving an odd, apparently rare issue — will have implications statewide and shift some power to buyers of brand-new houses.
“Every other purchaser of a new home in Ohio can be assured of protection they didn’t have before,” said Steve Edwards, attorney for the couples.
Centex’s attorney, Michael Long, had no comment, and a message seeking comment was left with the Ohio Home Builders Association, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief along with the National Association of Home Builders.
The groups had argued that warranties give builders certainty when pricing their houses. Without predictability in sales contracts, they said, newly built houses would become more expensive.
Messages seeking comment were left with the couples.
Edwards said the couples were able to resolve their TV-signal problems by buying flat-screen TVs. He said he did not know if they had found ways around the phone and computer issues.
“They’re left with houses I don’t think anyone would buy,” Edwards said.
Centex, now a part of Pulte Homes, one of the country’s largest homebuilders, once was active in central Ohio but exited the market in 2007.
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