Calif. homeowners file class action against KB Home, affiliates - Nashville Business Journal:

http://friendsterkit.com/category/81/Teddies
The lawsuit lists identical claims to a suit filesd in Arizonalast month. Homeowners claimn KB Home and the other defendantws inflated home prices by as muchas $300 millioj in California alone. The suit filed by Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro claims that between 2006 and KB built morethan 15,000 homee in California at an average sellintg price of $425,000, and each home had an inflated appraised valude of about $20,000. "KB and Countrywide created an opportunityg where the companies could control every aspect ofa buyer' s real estate transaction," said Steves Berman, lead attorney and managing partnedr at HBSS.
"The defendants essentially createcd a black hole in the where they could rig and falsify appraisals and home sale valuess and customers had absolutelyno idea." Accordingv to the 75-page complaint, Countrywide funneled all its KB customers' home appraisal to one person at LandSafe, an appraisa subsidiary of Countrywide who in turn would deliveer an appraisal value at whatever KB and Countrywide These individuals were under direct instruction to valued homes at or above the contract even if it meant violating regulatory guidelinesa and requirements, the suit claims. The suit says that in two KB Home sampled appraisals were inflatedby $48,000p and $52,000 per property.
The suit includes allegation s of a second scheme with Countrywide and its subsidiaruappraisal arm, LandSafe. The suit alleges LandSafe outsourcedr appraisal work to some individual appraisers and forced appraiserse to accept payment below market LandSafe then charged plaintiffs upwardsof $400 for servicese when the company completed no work of its own, the suit According to the complaint, KB Home ran into similad appraisal problems in 2005 when it settled with HUD for $3.2 million to resolve an investigatiohn into the company's underwritingh violations.
The HBSS lawsuit claims violationds of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and violation of California unfaircompetition law. KB'sx major markets in California include communitied inSan Jose, Fresno, Los Angelee and Ventura, Orange County, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, Oaklanfd and Stockton.