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July 14, 2003: |
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Attorney Nancy Quon contacts some Board members soliciting her services for "Construction Defect resolution", and that same day mails a letter to all homeowners mentioning her request to speak to the Board. |
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July 16, 2003: |
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Anguis & Terry, the law firm retained by the Board through the transition period contacts Nancy Quon informing her that they represent Vistana Condominium Owners Association. Board of Directors follows up a few days later (July 21) reinforcing the letter by Anguis & Terry. |
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July 22, 2003: |
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Dennis Green, portraying himself as a new homeowner, starts distributing flyers soliciting homeowners to attend the July 23, 2003 Vistana Association Board meeting. He does not, at that time, own a unit at Vistana. |
Leon Benzer, on behalf of Benzer Companies Inc., submits bid for a unit for
sale at 7107 S. Durango #108 (Building 2). Leon Benzer is also an owner of
Silver Lining Construction International, a local construction company. Silver
Lining is currently involved in the reconstruction at Pacific Legends Green
Valley following construction defect litigation. Dennis Green is President of
Pacific Legends Green Valley Owners Association.
Lisa Povill, who will later become the Primary Plaintiff in Nancy Quon's construction defect case, admits in a later phone conversation with Mr. Peitsch to helping Mr. Green distribute his flyers the evening of the 22nd. In later court documents filed by Nancy Quon she mentions meeting with Lisa Povill on this day.
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July 23, 2003: |
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Nancy Quon's meeting takes place. Dennis Green, Sibby Mahoney, and Lisa Povill all attend. Following the meeting Dennis Green strikes up a conversation with Vistana Board VP Chris Peitsch and mentions that he has known Nancy Quon for a long time. Green, Povill, and Mahoney leave the meeting together. |
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July 29, 2003: |
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Benzer Companies Inc. (owned by Leon Benzer) obtains the unit at 7107 S. Durango #108 according to Clark County Assessors records. |
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July 30, 2003: |
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Board is served with
Nancy Quon's class-action construction defect lawsuit filed on behalf of 5
units. The "Primary Plaintiff" in this lawsuit is homeowner Lisa
Povill. Here are a list of the parties represented by Nancy Quon: |
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July 31, 2003: |
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Vistana Condominium Owners Association Board files a construction defect lawsuit as a reaction to Nancy Quon's lawsuit. Since the law in this area were set to change on August 1st (allowing the builder a *right to repair* before entering into litigation) and the lawsuit filed would not protect all homeowners it was thought by a majority of the Board this was a correct action in response. Such lawsuit will be dismissed if Nancy Quon's lawsuit can be stopped, and the Board will start working with Rhodes through a mediation process agreed to in mid-August to fix some of these problems without litigation. |
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July 31-August 2, 2003: |
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Dennis Green, Cheryl Bernard, various other homeowners, and individuals claiming to represent Mainor & Harris (Nancy Quon's law firm) gather signatures from the community for the recall of the entire Vistana Board of Directors. The intent of the petition was to recall the ENTIRE Board and put a 3-person committee into place while new election were to occur. |
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August 2, 2003: |
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Unit at 7107 S. Durango
#108 is deeded over from Benzer Companies Inc. to Dennis Green (Clark County
Recorder Book #20030811 Instrument #02398). Terms of the deed is that there
is no downpayment for a $126,000 loan (the price paid by Benzer in obtaining
the unit from previous owner) with $1,000 payments for 126 months. |
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August 13, 2003 |
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After research by Mr. Peitsch on the backgrounds and other investigations of Nancy Quon, Leon Benzer, and Dennis Green many of these connection are put together. Such information is filed in court records later. |
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Mid-August (exact date unkown) |
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Mark Kulla of the law
firm Spilotro & Kulla begins representing Nancy Quon in a Temporary
Restraining Order against Quon by Anguis & Terry (Vistana attorneys).
Kulla, the Resident Agent for Benzer Companies LLC and is also a (perhaps now former)
Owner/Manager of Silver Lining Construction according to Secretary of State |
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August 14, 2003 |
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Benzer Companies Inc. purchases another unit in Vistana, 7167 S. Durango #209. To this day this unit has not been deeded over to anyone else. However, it should be noted that Sibby Mahoney has not yet moved into the community. In her July 23rd phone conversation with Mr. Peitsch she stated she was buying a pre-owned unit and it would be closed on within the next few weeks. This unit fits that description |
Vistana was a
target for this happening for two reasons...
1) Its size. When fully built out Vistana will have 732 units. When you compare
it to even many of the other large condominium association in Las Vegas it is
huge. Doorsteps mean dollar signs to Quon.
2) The change in the law. As for August 1, 2003 the law was set to change in
the state of Nevada dealing with construction defects. The biggest change has
to deal with the fact that under the now current law the developer could come
in and fix claims before litigation was to take place. This, of course, would
cut down on the amount awarded in a court decision or settlement.
Doorsteps mean dollar signs to construction defect lawyers, so it’s not
surprising the lengths which they will go to promote or defend their lawsuits.
Should you have any problems they often won't be allowed to be remedied while
this goes through litigation, a process which could take anywhere by 2 years to
a decade. At the end of the process the attorneys involved will take their cut
of the money and leave the rest for the association to fix all of the problems.
What happens if there is not enough money left over? Your assessments are
raised to take care of the rest.
So how do a class of five individual units throw an entire 600+ unit community
into Construction Defect Litigation, ruining resale opportunities and values as
well as equity values and refinancing opportunities? The answer is this is what
the law allows! If the Vistana Board voted to enter into litigation the issue
would then go to the Association's members and a two-thirds vote in favor of
litigation would be needed. However, in this case all that was needed was 5
unit owners. Five!