Union group part of lawsuit (KB Home and Countrywide Financial ) over home prices

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/09/union-group-part-lawsuit-over-home-prices/

By Steve Green

Sat, May 9, 2009 (12:45 p.m.)

A union trying to organize construction workers helped put together a lawsuit accusing KB Home and Countrywide Financial of inflating home values and appraisals in Nevada and Arizona, a union spokeswoman said Saturday.

The plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in Arizona, are members of the Alliance for Home Buyer Justice, a group that has been agitating against KB Home, Pulte Homes, Lennar Homes and D.R. Horton -- all builders active in Las Vegas. The alliance was created by the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

Laborers’ Union spokeswoman Dawn Page said the union and the alliance did the research for the lawsuit and that the law firm handling the case is doing so on a contingency fee basis, meaning the union, the alliance and the homeowner plaintiffs didn’t pay the law firm up front for its work.

A news release issued Thursday by the plaintiffs’ law firm didn’t disclose the participation of the union or the Alliance for Home Buyer Justice. The law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, has offices in Phoenix and Seattle.

Page said the union and the alliance have been working with homebuyers in Southern California and Phoenix who were hurt by subprime loans and may also work with similar buyers in Las Vegas as well.

She said the lawsuit was not part of a union organizing campaign, but that in the future as the economy improves the union would like to represent workers who build houses.

FULL story at link.

[napi21]

1. If their argument is inflating home prices, I don't think they have a chance

at winning. Homes are priced at "what the market will bear". The builders are not responsible for people paying more than a home is worth.

They have some chance at going after the appraisers & the lenders for falsifying results.