Legal Question in Construction Law in Pennsylvania
I purchased a new construction home about 3 years ago and I am not the orginal buyer of this property. I bought it from a couple that lived here for about a year and sold it. With that being said in July of 2008 after being in the house for 1 month a person tripped and fell over some expose bolts on the side of my house. I recently was informed that the male who tripped over the bolts was suing me for his injury. Now the story I am getting from my neighbors is that the builder was supposed to install a community mailbox on the side of my house and that the kids from the neighborhood knocked it over when it was installed and a new slab with bolts was layed to reinstall the mailbox. The mailbox never got reinstalled and the builder left the bolts exposed cauing this accident to occur. I would like to know if I have any legal ground to stand on to go after the builder for leaving this hazard on the side of my house. And if so what?
I also had another problem with a leaking roof in the house. The builder attempted to fix it but was unable to and no longer takes calls from the people in our developement. The builder kept telling us that he is not responcible for the roof leaking and that he did not install it so it is not his problem. There are 15 houses in out developement and to my knowledge 6 on my side of the developement had leaks. To prevent this problem we the 7 neighbors had to hire private contractors to reinstall a faulty window that was causing the leak. It cost us 1500.00 or more a piece to have this problem fixed and the house at the time was less then 3 years old. My question here is can we take this builder to court and if so would I be able to file suit against him as well since I didnt buy the house directly from him? And how do we go about doing this and what type of lawyer handles issues like this?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Is your homeowners' insurance defending the personal injury case?
Consider a small claims action against the builder for both the cost of removal of the hazard and the defective windows.
This is much too complex an issue to address in this forum. Your homeowners insurance, or it sounds like you must be in some kind of association, so their insurance should address the tripping issue. The roof leaks or other construction deficiencies is another issue. Suing someone you do not have privity with (a direct contract) is another issue. You really need to go speak with an attorney, to ID and separate your issues and address each. Your ZIP looks familiar - I think you are in the Philly area, so you can call me if you wish.
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