Opinion ID: 2640748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The AOAO's Complaints

Text: On February 18, 1997, the AOAO filed a complaint pursuant to HRS chapter 514A (relating to condominium property regimes) against Venture 15 and Doe defendants, alleging that [o]ne or more Defendants was negligent in the installing, supervising, inspecting, repairing, constructing, dredging, or in some other way in relation to the construction of the . . . buildings and development of Newtown Meadows. Between June 3, 1997 and January 23, 2002, the AOAO moved to amend its complaint and/or sought permission of the circuit court to (1) identify certain parties as Doe defendants, (2) assert claims against certain third-party defendants, and (3) assert additional claims, which motions were granted by the circuit court. Subsequent to the filing of the AOAO's amended complaint and because of the filing of additional third-party complaints, the AOAO obtained permission from the circuit court to assert claims against the additional third-party defendants. Consequently, the AOAO has asserted direct claims against the following seven parties as defendants: (1) Venture 15; (2) Royal; (3) Lee; (4) Liu; (5) Geolabs; (6) S. Horita; and (7) Community Planning. None of the parties dispute that the governing complaint as to all parties is the AOAO's amended complaint, filed on October 20, 1998, notwithstanding the fact that the AOAO amended over to some of the parties after October 20, 1998. The AOAO's amended complaint alleged in pertinent part: 8. The Defendants [7] were negligent with respect to the development, design, construction, compaction, grading, irrigation, installation, supervision, inspection, repairing, testing, building, site development, or in some other manner in relation to the Newtown Meadows project and the buildings thereon. 9. The Defendants are liable to [the AOAO] based on breach of contract, breach of express and/or implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, strict product liability, breach of statutes, ordinances and/or Building Code requirements and/or provisions, and unfair and/or deceptive acts or practices in violation of [HRS c]hapter 480[. ] 10. [The] Defendants are liable to [the AOAO] for intentional misrepresentation. The [D]efendants were furnished with and were aware of the information contained in the February 18, 1988 report prepared by . . . Geolabs[, i.e., the Grouting Report]. . . . 11. On February 23, 1988, a mere five days after the [Grouting Report] was issued, . . . Geolabs, without conducting any further investigation or testing to determine the adequacy of compaction under the remaining 10 buildings of [Newtown Meadows], issued [the] []Compaction Report[] for the Newtown Meadows subdivision. This report was furnished to the [Defendants] and used to obtain final approval of the Newtown Meadows project from various governmental entities. . . . 12. The representation contained in the []Compaction Report[] that the Newtown Meadows was compacted adequately was false and known by the [D]efendants to be false. 13. Despite the [D]efendants' knowledge, described above, the apartments at the Newtown Meadows were sold to members of the [AOAO] without disclosing the known inadequacies and deficiencies in the compaction of fill materials supporting the building structures of the Newtown Meadows. 14. As a result of the foregoing, among other things, the buildings and foundations at Newtown Meadows have shifted, settled and cracked, causing damage to the buildings and apartments contained therein. (Emphases added.) The AOAO's amended complaint also alleged that the AOAO has suffered injuries, damage, and losses and [is] entitled to recover general, special, compensatory, consequential and exemplary damages[.] Specifically, the AOAO claimed that its damages include but are not limited to the following: (a) physical injury to the buildings, apartments and grounds of Newtown Meadows; (b) injuries, damage, and losses resulting from improper development, design, and/or construction of the buildings, apartments and grounds; (c) a continuous or repeated exposure to conditions which resulted in damage or injury to the buildings, apartments and grounds; (d) loss in value of the apartments, buildings and grounds; (e) the cost of experts; (f) increase in maintenance costs; (g) the cost to remedy settling and other defects; and (h) other consequential damages.