Class-Action Suit Filed On Behalf Of Homeowners With Failing Foundations

Feb. 03--HARTFORD -- Homeowners have turned to a class-action lawsuit in their fight to get insurance companies to cover their claims for failing concrete foundations.

Ryan Barry, an attorney based in Manchester, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Hartford Friday on behalf of four homeowners -- in Ashford, Ellington, Manchester and Stafford.

The suit claims that the insurance companies are part of a "concerted scheme to deny them coverage for their failing basement walls, which experts say must be replaced ... because they were built with defective concrete." The suit says the wall are "in a state of collapse."

The suit names 111 insurance companies, not all of whom are liable, Barry said. Not all the companies named in the lawsuit have denied claims from homeowners -- the strategy is to cast a wide net and protect as many homeowners as possible, Barry said.

"The 111 insurance companies we sued represent all insurance companies that allow us to have diverse jurisdiction in court," Barry said. "They either write policies today or have homeowners' insurance policies active out there. You need to have -- as a matter of good lawyering -- to have them all in the lawsuit."

The class-action suit follows a dozen individual lawsuits filed in state Superior Court by Ellington-based attorneys Brian Danforth and Brenda Draghi. Those suits also allege that insurance companies have denied homeowners coverage for their defective basement foundations.

The cost to replace a foundation can be from $150,000 to $200,000, experts say, and homeowners are left to foot the bill without coverage from their insurance companies.

NBC Connecticut news first reported last July that foundations across north central Connecticut with concrete poured by Stafford Springs-based J.J. Mottes & Co. are deteriorating. Mottes rebuts any allegation that it is to blame, claiming faulty installation.

The class-action complaint also names Mottes but targets only the insurance companies.

"Each of their homes has basement walls that are irreversibly deteriorating as a result of defective concrete supplied by J.J. Mottes & Co.," the suit says.

John Patton, a Mottes spokesman, released this statement: "There are dozens of reasons foundations can fail, for example[one] caseconcluded the cause of the failure was installation error -- andnot the concrete or any components of the concrete -- which led to freeze-thaw damage. The Joseph J. Mottes Company provides concrete to an installer but does not install the foundation. We believe those suffering from crumbling foundations deserve answers and help with solutions that can only come from a comprehensive investigation."

Barry said the suit will resolve the issue for many homeowners who have been denied coverage or could be denied coverage in the future.

The Insurance Association of Connecticut on Tuesday issued a statement that said, in part, "While insurance coverage does differ and people should consult their policies, as well as their agents and insurers if they have questions, homeowners' insurance typically does not provide protection for losses caused by faulty construction or the use of faulty materials in construction."

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