$8 Million Construction Defect Arbitration Award for Beverly Hills Luxury Home Developer

An upstart general contractor took on the construction of two eight-figure marquee homes in Beverly Hills. The homes were supposed to have expansive city views, eight-car garages, elevators, a man cave, pools and modern European finishes. What the contractor built was anything but. Three years after starting construction, the contractor was clearly in over his head: faulty construction; unpaid, underqualified, and unlicensed subcontractors; missing materials; and liens filed against the property. The owner was left holding the bag with a half-finished, defective house on one property and nothing but a leaning retaining wall on the other. We demanded arbitration which the contractor repeatedly attempted to frustrate. Finally, arbitration went forward for three weeks via Zoom. The virtual process was nearly seamless, allowing remote testimony from witnesses in three countries. The arbitrator ruled that the general contractor (i) breached the construction agreements, (ii) owed $8 million in damages, including the developer’s attorneys’ fees; and (iii) erroneously filed a lien against the property. The contractor was awarded nothing on its breach of contract claim. A resounding win.

Note: This case was handled by a prior law firm. Chase Tajima and Lisa Trepanier served as counsel in that case.