We ( The Santora family) sued Pulte Homes because they refused to repair many defects in our home. It was our opinion that Pulte Homes had violated the warranty. After 5 days of trial testimony, our case was dismissed on a directed verdict because we failed, or should I say our attorney failed, to provide proper measure of damage at trial.

   Pulte Homes can no longer hide behind the directed verdict in the case Santora vs Pulte Homes, case number CV-367149. It is now a matter of public record that the evidence was clear as to the facts surrounding our DEFECTIVE HOME.

After the conclusion of the Pulte Homes trial, we sought the services of anther attorney to file an appeal. We went to the law firm of Valore & Turbow. During our consultation with Larry Turbow, he advised us that malpractice was evident in our case.

I explained to Mr. Turbow that while trying to get our case files returned from Mr. Stark, we were being asked about final payment on our bill. Mr. Stark billed us an additional $25,000 after the conclusion of the case. Mr. Turbow advised us NOT to pay Stark another dime and went on to advise that we should locate an attorney that handles legal malpractice. Valore & Turbow could not take the malpractice case because since they discovered the malpractice, they could potentially be called as witnesses.

Shortly after the trial, J. Norman Stark, L.P.A, filed suit against the Santora family for of all things, breach of contract and requested fees and punitive damages.

At the time Stark filed his lawsuit, we did not have an attorney. I had to act as my attorney and file motions, request discovery documents and attend pre-trials.

   My wife and I filed suit against Pulte Homes in October 1998. We retained the services of J. Norman Stark, L.P.A. We had learned of Mr. Stark through an article written by the Akron Beacon Journal.

   We signed a contract with Mr. Stark, paid his retainer fee, and then turned over all of our documents, pictures, video of the defects and all related paperwork.

   Everything seemed to be going along fine. Mr. Stark did not want to use any of the experts that we had already received reports from. He wanted to bring in people that he knew and trusted. We agreed and Mr. Stark hired the services of an architect and an appraiser.

   The architect was hired to inspect the house and determine the defects in the house. The appraiser was then given the architect's report. His job was to determine the market value of the house as if no defects existed and the value of the house with the defects. The idea seemed right to us at the time.

   Mr. Stark chose to pursue diminished value of the home due to defects. We were doomed before we started! Not being a lawyer, we did not know any of this until it was painfully too late.

   We realized we were in trouble while attending the final pre-trial in Judge Janet Burnside's chambers. We learned that our attorney was not prepared and in fact had not even read our contract with Pulte Homes. The Pulte Homes contract only provides one method of resolution for any disputes, cost to repair. No other cause of action can be taken per the terms of the Pulte Homes contract. This clearly written clause was on the front page of the contract.

   We tried to no avail to get Pulte Homes to honor the terms of their contract and warranty for over five (5) years. Instead of correcting the mistakes and defects in our house, Pulte Homes chose to deny that anything was wrong. If not for my persistence in the beginning, the few repairs that did take place would never had occurred. It was not until October of 1998 that we were forced to file a lawsuit. Even then it was only because Pulte Homes Project Manager Joe Murphy stated that he would no longer make any repairs on the house and that our warranty was over.

   Finally some justice has been found in the courts. What started out as a family just trying to purchase a home has come full circle with a victory in court against the attorney responsible for our case being dismissed.