Going to court to remedy a dispute can be a time-consuming and costly process, even if you end up winning.
For some, like Natalia G. Toreeva of Carol Stream, the effort may be worth it. In 1991, Toreeva filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court charging that the builder of her house, Town & Country Homes, neglected to repair basement leaks and failed to fix a faulty air conditioning system.
For two years the company had ignored her complaints about the air conditioner, she claimed in the suit.
Toreeva requested $2,000 to cover the cost of the system, as itemized in the purchase agreement. An independent inspector she hired told her the system had been built incorrectly and that if she used it again, she could damage the heating system, she testified.
Approximately three months after she filed the suit, a judge found in her favor, ordering Town & Country to pay her $1,500 and to repair two basement leaks “within a reasonable time.”
Although she won a judgment, going to court was a mixed experience, Toreeva said. She since has bought a new air conditioner, but the court award didn’t cover its entire $1,800 cost.
She’s also out $200 for an inspection of the old system and approximately $100 in court costs for filing her initial complaint.
Toreeva, a native of Russia, represented herself in court, and therefore saved on attorney’s fees. It was a good thing, too: Several lawyers she approached had estimated that the cost of their services would run higher than the award she requested of the court.
Lesson learned
Toreeva learned a valuable lesson from her experience: Next time she buys a new house, she says, she will include only the basics in the purchase agreement, no extras such as an air conditioning system. Then, she says, she could deal directly with a smaller company for the system instead of “a big real estate company.”
Also, since her air conditioning was included as part of the house purchase package, its cost was rolled into her 30-year mortgage. She will continue to pay for the system for the life of her mortgage, even though she now has a different system.
“I was stupid enough to include the air conditioner in the price of the house,” she says. “That was my mistake.”
But just because a buyer heads for court doesn’t mean victory is a sure thing. To wit, the following example, taken from Du Page County Circuit Court files:
Michael and Iris Korb purchased a home built by the By Edwards company in Darien’s Sawmill Creek subdivision in 1984. They filed a $10,000 lawsuit in 1986, claiming the builder had neglected to repair defects in accordance with a warranty attached to the contract.
In court documents, the homeowners listed some two dozen problems, ranging from standing water on the street in front of the driveway to a dysfunctional bathtub drain.
The builder, however, argued that the street in front of the driveway was not part of the home contract, and denied any problem with the bathtub drain, records showed.
It took more than a year’s worth of court appearances and depositions-not to mention orders to produce all relevant documents, logs, notes and bills-before the case went to trial before a judge in 1987.
When the homeowners finished presenting their case, the judge rendered a directed verdict-in favor of the builder.
