Soil-Expansion Battle Shapes Attorney’s Career:
Suits Against Builders Over Home Damage Make Sullan National Leader In This Type Of Litigation

By Shelley Gonzales
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

HIGHLANDS RANCH- When Scott Sullan took up the fight for 13 Highlands Ranch homeowners battling Wood Bros. over broken basements six years ago, he had no idea it would shape his career.

“This really has taken on a life of its own,” says the 42-year-old attorney, who won a settlement with Wood Bros. and went on to win settlements with two other home-builders and a jury verdict in the state’s largest homeowner class-action suit last week.

The battle is being fought on bentonite, a clay-like material that swells up to 1 ½ times its size when wet. Found throughout Colorado, the expansive soil has wreaked havoc on concrete-slab floors that crack because of the up-and-down movement of the ground.

Sullan argues that builders have long known about the dangers of building on bentonite but refuse to take proper precautions to minimize home damage, such as putting in more expensive wood-floor basements.

After winning a $1.5 million settlement with Wood Bros. Sullan found himself fielding calls from residents up and down the Front Range.

“Before, people’s basements would start heaving and cracking and they’d go to the warranty company only to be told that it wasn’t covered,” he said. “All of a sudden people thought, ‘We can get something done here.’”

That Sullan is the man they turn to comes as not surprise to his colleagues.

“Scott is very dedicated and very committed,” said Ron Sandgrund of Vanatta, Sullan and Sandgrund, his law partner who helped litigate Sullan’s class-action suit against Mission Viejo Co.

Sullan, who grew up outside Chicago and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, has had a lifelong connection to the construction industry. His father was an architect, and he himself worked as a carpenter.

After getting his law degree from Southern Illinois University, Sullan and his wife, Barbara, spent a year as “ski bums” in Colorado before Dean Vanatta hired him in 1980.

The firm then specialized in insurance defense litigation, and Sullan began taking on construction-related cases. For the past three years, soils has been his exclusive battle.

Thursday, Sullan scored perhaps the biggest victory in his quest when a Douglas County District Court jury found Highlands Ranch developer Mission Viejo Co. negligent and in breach of an implied warranty.

The class-action case, representing 957 homeowners, is the biggest of its kind in Colorado and quite likely the nation. Sullan said he has not come across a bigger soils suit.

The battle with Mission will continue as he enters the case’s second phase to seek damages.

“What strikes me is that there is a pattern in all of these cases,” said Sullan, who has similar suits pending against several other Colorado builders, including Richmond Homes and U.S. Homes.

“There is commonality…You see the same soils reports, the same summary letters, the same language and the same business practices… It isn’t a fluke that homeowner after homeowner is suffering these problems.”

He hopes builders will resolve the cases by setting up extended warranty programs that cover soils damage, as was required in the settlements he reached with Falcon Homes last year and Ryland Homes last week.

“It isn’t up to the builder to say whether it is covered,” he said. “That’s up to a jury… we’re encouraging responsible builders to sit down and work with us in getting these homes fixed.”

His ultimate goal of changing the construction industry continues to inspire him.

“Expansive soils are nasties,” he said. “I hope that builders understand that when they put homes on them, they need to take the precautions to prevent damage because it’s the homeowners who end up paying for it.”

Source: Rocky Mountain News, March 17, 1996, page 1