YUCAIPA - After years of living in brand-new houses plagued with leaking windows and cracked stucco, 14 homeowners in Whisper Ranch have been awarded $1.3 million for construction defects.
 
Calimesa-based developer E. Wayne Simmons and builder Whisper Ranch Ltd. were ordered in July by a San Bernardino Superior Court judge to pay the 14 plaintiffs for construction defects ranging from slab leaks to slope failures.
 
The 200-home Whisper Ranch development off Mesa Grande Drive was built in the late 1990s. House prices ranged from $190,000 to $650,000.
 
Nikki Snelson, who bought her house in 1997, said she is satisfied with the award and is relieved to have repairs started on her home.
 
"There's been a sense of instability through it all,' the 39-year-old said. "I couldn't clean and be done, I couldn't sit and relax without seeing a mess. For women and kids trying to maintain a household, it was just havoc.'
 
After dealing with plumbing leaks and discovering her wedding dress had been ruined by resulting mold, Snelson contacted the law firm of Anderson & Kriger in Riverside.
 
The law firm sent out questionnaires to the project residents asking them to check off any construction problems with the houses. A lawsuit was filed in July 2004.
 
"We are very pleased that our clients are being appropriately compensated because it will cost them a lot of money to fix the things the developer should have done right in the first place,' attorney Codette Wallace said.
This is one of the largest per-homeowner lawsuits in recent California history, said attorney Laurie Twitchell.
She said the average homeowner settlement is $15,000 to $25,000.
 
Wayne Simmons, owner of E. Wayne Simmons Inc., said the lawsuit was unnecessary because his company offered to make all necessary repairs and most of the problems were minor and could easily be repaired by the builder.
 
He said homeowners refused repairs and instead filed a lawsuit.
 
However, many residents said they sued because the builder was unwilling to make repairs in a timely manner.
 
Homeowners have to arrange and pay for the repairs themselves because the builder ceded responsibility with the judge's ruling.
 
"Had they (the builder) taken care of the things wrong on the property, it would never have come to this,' said Betty Chirrick, 69, who bought her home in 1999.
 
She said workers often failed to keep appointments to fix problems such as insufficient gutters and lack of a gas meter.
 
"My husband and I planned to make this our home for life, and I'm sorry it had to come to this. But they shouldn't have dismissed us with such disregard.'
 

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