Residents of Cherry Valley Country Club seek $1.5 million in damages.
By: Paul Sisolak
MONTGOMERY Residents of the Cherry Valley Country Club housing development have filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against two developers for damages incurred to their homes due to improperly installed stucco, according to Cherry Valley attorney Donald Brenner.
Sixty-six residents of Clubside at Cherry Valley, a section of the development, filed suit against DKM Residential Properties of Montgomery and national developer Gale & Wentworth in March, alleging that extensive water damage to their houses resulted from faulty installation of stucco and a faux-stucco material called EIFS, or Exterior Insulating and Finish System.
For the past week, development homes have been undergoing repairs by U.S. Reclad Contractors of Englewood Cliffs. The company is stripping the faulty stucco and replacing it with new stucco after repairing water-damaged material under the old stucco. The project is slated to be completed in mid-June.
Mr. Brenner, who successfully represented residents three years ago after a nearly identical stucco lawsuit was filed against DKM, said a formal complaint was filed against DKM and Gale & Wentworth in November of last year after Cherry Valley homeowners said their houses were receiving water leakage.
DKM responded last month with an engineering report and denied Cherry Valley’s charges, which included a claim that DKM violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Mr. Brenner contends DKM deceived Clubside residents, who were under the impression their homes would be built with stucco and not EIFS.
"They asked before they bought, ‘Am I getting EIFS?’ and (DKM) said no," he said. "A consumer, in a million years, would never have known the difference" between stucco and EIFS, he added.
Mr. Brenner was unclear of the relationship between DKM and Gale & Wentworth, but said he believed the two companies were jointly involved in the Cherry Valley project.
The current scenario echoes woes DKM experienced three years ago when Cherry Valley sued the company after 40 houses fell victim to defective stucco. After a year of litigation, the case was settled out of court.
The current lawsuit includes newer homes that were built on the tail end of the first DKM-Cherry Valley dispute, which did not show water damage until recently.
Mr. Brenner said that some houses in Clubside that have shown no evidence of damage are also being fixed.
"If the stucco was left on for a few more years, they would show damage," he said.
Residents of some of the newer homes have reported their houses have been affected so severely by water seepage beneath poorly installed stucco that ceilings have leaked water and walls have become infested with mold, Mr. Brenner said.
Since the case is still relatively new, Mr. Brenner continued, it could take up to three years to go to trial. Cherry Valley has since formed a steering committee to directly consult with Mr. Brenner.
Clubside resident and Steering Committee member Chuck Van Orten declined to comment, instead referring all questions to Mr. Brenner. Reached Monday, John Broderick, spokesman for DKM, also declined to comment on the lawsuit.

