"Nothing can bring back my home or restore its historic significance. Thanks to Ron and his team’s hard work, the contractor and anyone engaging in practices that could potentially destroy homes, injure families or take lives, have been given a ‘heads-up’ that we won’t stand for such tactics."
- Bob Harvey
For eight years, Bob Harvey restored the historic home at 1910 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. According to Harvey, the house had served as a hospital during the Civil War, and later housed a mayor of Philadelphia. From basement through to the top floor, the restorations were done with the utmost attention to detail.
When finished, the house was a beautiful example of historic architecture in Philadelphia, and Harvey moved in to the top floor. In addition, he was able to generate a nice income from the property by renting out the other two floors to tenants. For Harvey, living in a historic landmark was ideal.
That is, until September 13, 2005, when shoddy contractors removed the dirt from beneath his house during construction on condominiums adjacent to his property – and Harvey’s home literally crumbled.
While Harvey and his tenants were not hurt, the destruction to the property was absolute. All three families had lost everything in the collapse.
An existing client at Fox Rothschild, Harvey immediately made contact with Sandy Mozes, an attorney at the firm, who joined him that afternoon. Sandy knew that Harvey needed the experience and insight of a construction litigator – one who had handled cases from both points of view, the individual and the contractor – so that Harvey would receive the guidance he needed to obtain the best possible results. The next day, Sandy introduced Harvey to Ronald Williams, co-chair of Fox’s Construction Practice.
“The city of Philadelphia lost a historic landmark on September 13, 2005 – and my client lost his home,” said Williams, who served as lead counsel for Harvey. “It was a devastating and totally unnecessary loss. Had the contractor hired to underpin Mr. Harvey’s home acted responsibly, the house would be standing today.”
Williams and his team of associates, Samuel Cortes and Stephanie Nolan Deviney, set to work on Harvey’s case, and immediately filed a complaint. Working closely with Harvey, they prepared all of his damages claims – which exceeded $2.5 million – and deposed several witnesses.
Although the Fox team pushed hard for a quick trial, they faced road blocks from defense counsel at every possible juncture. While the defense treated Harvey’s loss as though it meant nothing, Williams and his team knew that such painstaking restorations and the loss of so many sentimental pieces was, in fact, everything to our client.
At trial, Williams’ team presented comprehensive evidence – including the million dollar home, lost income from rent and management fees, and the cumulative loss of Harvey’s personal items and documents. The result was more than $2.5 million in damages.
It didn’t take long before the jury knew just how badly Harvey’s life had been impacted by the poor construction practices.
On September 6, 2007, after two weeks of testimony and other evidence, the jury reached a verdict in Harvey’s favor in the amount of $4 million in compensatory damages. In addition, approximately two weeks later, the jury awarded $1.75 million in punitive damages in favor of Harvey against the contractor hired to underpin his home.
“The punitive damage verdict should send a message to the underpinning contractor and to all contractors working in Philadelphia who engage in reckless construction practices,” said Williams. “The jury made a great decision – and as a result, the people of Philadelphia and their property are safer.”
Fox attorneys like Ron Williams and his team have has successfully prosecuted and defended clients in construction-defect cases involving structural components, product performance issues, water penetration and mold, insurance coverage issues, and claims for property and personal injury loss. For administration projects, our attorneys provide effective counsel through involvement from front-end to close-out, including consultation as needed during construction administration or litigation issues.
For Bob Harvey, the knowledge and experience of Ron Williams and his team helped achieve an outstanding result – and a result that sent a message about construction practices in Philadelphia.
For more information about this case, speak to a member of Fox Rothschild’s construction practice.
