Defense Verdict in American Arbitration Association Matter

Bland Richter successfully defended its longstanding builder client Lennar Homes in arbitration with the AAA wherein the claimant customer was awarded zero dollars. The claimant sued Lennar for fraud and claimed Lennar’s agent misrepresented that Lennar would not in the future sell the same model home in the subdivision for less money than the purchase price paid by the claimant. Approximately a year after the claimant’s closing, Lennar constructed and sold the same model of home as the claimant’s down the street from the claimant for approximately $13,600 less than what the claimant paid. Obviously, Lennar denied making such a representation and Bland Richter vigorously defended the case. This is the fourth zero dollar defense verdict that Bland Richter has obtained for its clients in AAA arbitrations. Those attorneys who appear frequently before the AAA know that it is infrequent that an arbitrator will award a claimant zero dollars and find totally for the defendant simply because arbitrators are said to have a tendency to “split the baby” when rendering an award and award a claimant some monetary amount because the claimant has to pay such a steep filing fee to initiate the action, which in this particular case, the claimant homeowner paid a $750.00 filing fee.