Complaint Review: Standard Pacific Corp - Standard Pacific Homes

This is a press release written and sent by the homeowner about their experience with Standard Pacific:

Toxic Assets: Standard Pacific Homes installs Chinese Drywall & Abandons Homeowners Outraged homeowner confronts homebuilder's CEO during public earnings call.


Coconut Creek, FL, July 1, 2009 Standard Pacific Homes (NYSE: SPF) has been peddling toxic assets. Various communities built by Standard Pacific, including Julia Gardens in Coconut Creek, FL, have been found to have toxic Chinese Drywall. Chinese Drywall emits sulfur into the air which corrodes electronic components, causes health issues and renders homes uninhabitable.

Homeowners have discovered this phenomenon in the last few months and have turned to their builder for a resolution. Standard Pacific's response has, so far, been muted - offering no hope for homeowners like Lisset Sanchez-Schwartz who confronted the company's CEO, Kenneth Campbell, during the 1st Quarter public earnings call on May 8, 2009.

I listened to the call hoping to learn about what my builder, Standard Pacific, was doing about the Chinese Drywall installed in these communities. After stating their hundreds of millions in cash and going over all of the other particulars of the financial statements, I was shocked to realize that they wouldn't address it at all, said Lisset Sanchez-Schwartz, homeowner at Julia Gardens. That's when I decided to get in the queue to ask a question.

In April, Mrs. Sanchez-Schwartz provided the builder with a Notice of Claim and Opportunity to Repair pursuant to Florida Statute 558.004, however, the builder has yet to this day advise her of their intent.

My patience was wearing thin. I'd had to move out of my home for my own health. My house is un-sellable, un-rentable and uninhabitable. I needed some answers or at least a status of what they were planning to do, she said.

She received none. Instead, Campbell, who seemingly was caught off guard by the question, was dismissive at first and then advised her to contact their General Counsel for a status. Her attorney, Allison Grant, from Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Gora, in Boca Raton, Florida, contacted them immediately. The following week a slow dialog was finally initiated by Standard Pacific. A cursory inspection and nearly two months later, Mrs. Sanchez-Schwartz still finds herself in the same situation.

Standard Pacific has refused to do anything. I purchased this house specifically because the builder was a large publicly traded company that I thought I could trust. The home came with a 10 year warranty. This was a huge selling feature for me, she said. Now I'm finding out the hard way that they don't stand behind their product. It's buyer beware'. Buying this house has been a truly destructive experience. By extension, Standard Pacific is destroying my health, my property, my credit basically everything I've worked so hard to build.

Mrs. Sanchez-Schwartz points out that homeowners are not at fault here and are not looking for a handout. The way I see it, if you buy a defective product you should have the right to have it fixed or to return it. It's as simple as that.

Ms. Grant, who advocates working with builders before filing a lawsuit, stated: Many homeowners understand the complexities of the situation and want to amicably resolve this matter, but Standard Pacific is leaving the homeowner with no choice but to pursue litigation.

A link to the full recording of the 1st Quarter earnings call for Standard Pacific can be found below. The questions from Mrs. Sanchez-Schwartz start at time marker 1 hour 20 minutes.

http://web.servicebureau.net/conf/meta?i=1113097077&c=2343&m=was&u=/w_ccbn.xsl&date_ticker=SPF

Lisset
Coconut Creek, Florida
U.S.A.