Landslide Lawsuit: Owners Of A Home Sliding Into River Sue Developer, Builder And Engineers

By Shannon Joyce Neal
The Daily Sentinel

The owners of a house sliding into the Colorado River have sued the developer, the builder and the engineers who worked on the home, saying they knew the land couldn’t support the building.

According to papers filed with District Court in October, Marlin and Janet Scotting are asking to be reimbursed for the cost of the $205,000 home on El Monte Court, which they had to abandon last winter. Robert and Sharon Halpenny, who own the undeveloped lot next to the Scottings’ home, are also suing.

As part of the lawsuit, the Scottings have asked the court to stop demolition of their home. The city of Grand Junction and the Mesa County Building Department in May ordered the house be torn down, calling it a public safety hazard. The city delayed the order twice, and the final completion date of Oct. 15 passed without the house coming down.

The suit asks to preserve the house as evidence for the lawsuit. The Scottings’ attorney, Ronald Sandgrund, said the house will need to be examined by experts for both sides, and a jury may want to look at the house if the case goes to trial.

Assistant City Attorney John Shaver said no decision has been made on the house’s demolition order. The Scottings are not suing the city for any damages.

The lawsuit is addressed instead to the companies involved in the house’s construction, as well as the companies that insured the house against landslide damage.

The suit states a 1994 geological study prepared by Lincoln DeVore Inc. for the developers, Alpine C.M. Inc. and B&P Development Co., said the steep slopes overlooking the Colorado River could be unstable for development.

The study said construction on those slopes needed to be carefully planned and have adequate drainage. Any cuts into the earth or any dirt fill used in construction needed to be controlled to avoid triggering a landslide.

Some of the land under the Scottings’ home was labeled unstable in the report, according to the lawsuit.

The suit quotes the study as saying it was the responsibility of the property owner to tell the subdivision’s individual lot buyers about the study’s findings.

The Scottings said they were not told about the geological study when they purchased the land from B&P Development in 1996.

Kevin Nourse of Alpine declined comment on the lawsuit. Officials with B&P Development did not return calls to their office.

Red Hart Construction, the company that built the house, didn’t follow the recommendations of the study, the suit said.

Lincoln DeVore, the suit said, didn’t tell the Scottings about the problems with their property or how to safely build on the lot, Ed Morris, of Lincoln DeVore, could not be reached for comment.

Once the house started to slide, the insurance companies denied the Scottings’ claims, according to the lawsuit. The companies said the damage to the house didn’t fall under their landslide coverage, but rather happened because of gradual erosion not covered by the insurance policy.

Since the Scottings’ house began to slide, the Grand Junction Planning Commission has restricted construction on 10 surrounding lots standing of the area’s geological risks. State geologists have told the city that development along the bluffs, the drainage needed for land-scraping and fill necessary to support the structures have made the problem worse.

Source: The Daily Sentinel