Because Dream Homes can become Nightmares
This
site came into being with the hope that what happened to our family
could be prevented from ever happening to anyone else. We went
from hoping to have our dream home built, to living a nightmare; our
house, now known as "the Nightmare on Waterman Hill," was constructed
in a manner so shoddy that it would cost more to fix it than it cost to
build in the first place. We were duped by our contractor, and as it
turns out, we were not the only ones (more on that below). It is
a devastating thing to have your home end up like this, because just
about everything you do in life starts with your home. . .when there is
no refuge, no comfort, no decent shelter, the rest of your life becomes
degraded as well.
A new home
is quite likely the biggest expense you will ever have, and yet the
laws and courts of New York State, and most likely many other states,
are grossly inadequate at protecting you. We have discovered this
the hard way. After nearly ten years of court battles, the truth
becomes inescapably clear.
We have
lost our savings, our chance of having a decent home, and ten years of
our lives because of this. If that isn't a case for pain and
suffering damages, what is? If somebody twists an ankle they can
sue for a million dollars worth of pain and suffering, but anyone
involved in a construction/fraud case, cannot. Having been robbed
of our savings, home, and most importantly, our time, comfort, and
pursuit of happiness, the courts consider it tough luck.
Never let this happen to you!
While our case is very bad, the worst part is that the contractor who did this to us now works for at least three not for-profit entities using state and federal tax money (in the form of grants) to "improve” housing for low income people. One of the not-for-profits is directed by his wife. Another is directed by a friend. These not-for-profits are not subject to FOIL laws, so the money spent cannot be traced by the public, even though the majority of their funds are public funds.
HUD does perform an audit of these not-for-profits occasionally, but only to see that the money was spent where it was stated to have been spent, NOT whether the work made sense or was performed skillfully. Our case is familiar to the public locally, so we have become the unofficial clearing house for complaints against those private entities using HUD funds. One family moved into a home inspected by our builder only to find that the main support beam under the home was cracked. Another family lost two children in an electrical fire in a house where our builder was the “building and safety inspector.”
We first spoke to the Regional Director of NYS HUD, John McKay, in 1999, and several times since. Last time, he said, “HUD doesn’t care.” Then he must have realized how that sounded, so he added, “Well, HUD cares, but HUD won’t do anything until somebody sues them and wins.”
We’ve been trying to draw state and federal attention to this matter for eight years. Since March 31, 2004, the Attorney General’s office has had this complaint by Brooks Washburn, AlA on file, ‘I feel it is appropriate to bring this matter to your attention as the business practices of C. W. Augustine and/or O’Neill may mislead municipalities in the state into the position of being unknowingly in possession of and/or liable for engineering and/or building code deficiencies in their public buildings.”
Federal HUD refuses to do anything but refer the problem back to NYS HUD, who takes no action. Our Congressman, John McHugh has been unable to make them take action. NYS HUD will not police itself, it will not admit that anything is wrong, and it never will unless it is sued and a judicial review takes place.
If you know of any construction attorney who would be willing to review the materials we have and take on a pro bono class action suit against state and federal HUD, please ask him or her to contact us. We can provide an attorney with proof that resumes submitted to the state in CDBG grant applications were laden with materially false statements.
None of this would benefit us directly because our case is a private one and HUD funds were not involved at all, but it would give us a sense of hope for the people we have met who have gone through such terrible misfortune. Our private case, or at least the fraud suit, is still out on appeal. It has been nine years, more than fifty thousand dollars in legal fees, more than one hundred sixteen thousand dollars in damages. Our family will never recover from this, but, at least, we have each other and we are strong. That much cannot be said for the low income victims of HUD’s ineptitude.
Our
experiences with this contractor and our journey through the legal
system have left us with an in depth knowledge of what a con man can do
to a family, and how the justice system helps him rather than deters
him. Our hope is to put together a book on the subject at some time in
the future.