© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(Feb. 8) – In 2014, Farmer’s Branch homeowners Felipe and Aurora Rodriguez noticed cracks developing in their foundations, floors and walls. Big cracks. The value of their property plummeted.
“A four-inch difference developed between the front door and the floor in the middle of the house,” says Bruce Steckler, a partner at Steckler Gresham Cochran who is representing the Rodriguez family. “Their neighbor’s house has an eight-inch difference.
In fact, 230 other homeowners living north and south of I-635 between Josey Lane and Marsh Ave. experienced the same problems. Together, they sued Trinity Infrastructure, the state-hired general contractor that handled construction of the LBJ Express Project, for causing the damage to their properties.
The Rodriguez family, who owns a 1,400-square foot house on Amsterdam Rd., was the first to go to trial.
After six days of evidence and arguments, a 12-person Dallas Co. jury deliberated about 90 minutes Tuesday before ruling that Trinity Infrastructure was responsible for the property losses and awarded $248,723 in compensatory damages.
Now, the remaining 230 families want their day in court.
“The homeowners went to Trinity with their problems and Trinity turned their back and would not even discuss the problem,” says Steckler, who also represents 165 of those families.
“Plaintiffs’ homes are literally coming apart at the seams; and so are their lives as a result of defendants’ wrongful conduct,” he says.
Steckler, who specializes in construction law litigation, says Trinity and its subcontractors “excavated, pounded, crushed, blasted, drilled and demolished” while constructing the express lanes, which are up to five stories below the surface.
Efforts to contact lawyers for Trinity Infrastructure were unsuccessful.
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