U.S. Army veteran Sandra Barrett, who was injured while serving in the military, was on the verge of losing her home in Benton Harbor, Michigan, until a Varnum LLP team stepped in to defend her pro bono in a contract dispute over house renovations.
Barrett hired contractor Will Murray and Murray's Property Management Company LLC in 2018 to renovate her home for $81,500 and agreed to make payments in four installments after renovations were completed and certified as being of acceptable quality by the city inspector and the VA, the decision says.
After Barrett paid Murray one installment for first-stage renovations, she contacted the VA about concerns with Murray's second-stage renovations, and the VA conducted a compliance inspection at Barrett's home, according to the court decision. The VA found that Murray's second-stage renovations, including an incomplete stairlift, paint and drywall, were noncompliant and substandard, and Barrett terminated her contract with him. In response, Murray and his company sued Barrett in a Michigan county court, alleging breach of contract.
Barrett may have been forced out of her home if the University of Michigan's pro bono department hadn't referred her case to law firm Varnum LLP in 2019, according to the firm.
Compliance litigation attorney William Thompson, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who has worked at Varnum since 2014 and provides pro bono legal services to veterans, told Law360 that one of the most challenging parts of the case was that the contractor wouldn't acknowledge his work was "clearly negligent."
Thompson said that a hallway the company painted in Barrett's home looked like it was out of a horror movie because the walls weren't prepped for a new coat of paint. The contractor also installed new tile in Barrett's shower that was slanted, causing water to drain into the bathroom walls instead of down the shower drain, he said.
"This is clearly an instance where this contractor took advantage of someone who's incredibly disabled and thought they could railroad her," Thompson said.
Murray and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment on the case.
Thompson said he litigated Barrett's case for two years with the help of Varnum construction attorneys Katherine O'Connor and Richard Hewlett and associates Jailah Emerson and Olayinka Ope.
The attorneys assisted Thompson with the construction law aspects of the case, and some of the junior associates who lived closer to Barrett helped by going to a couple of the site inspections at her home, according to Thompson.
Thompson said discovery was extensive during litigation because all the facts about what was done in the renovation and the timing of events had to be supported by an abundance of evidence.
"The fact that we kind of had to drag this through two years of discovery and motion practice ... it shows that this wasn't just ... a standard case," Thompson said.
Thompson and his team also had to overcome bureaucratic hurdles involving the VA, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and local building code enforcement that complicated and prolonged the case, according to Varnum.
After a three-day bench trial in March, a Berrien County, Michigan, court judge ruled that the fact that Murray's company didn't have a valid residential builders license at the time of the renovations prohibits him and his company from suing Barrett under Michigan state law for allegedly violating their contract.
On Barrett's counterclaims against Murray and his company, Berrien County Judge Donna B. Howard found that Barrett proved the contractor's work was subpar and noncompliant with building standards, and that Murray owed her $70,190 in compensatory damages. However, Judge Howard denied Barrett's request for exemplary and/or consequential damages.
The judge also concluded that Barrett didn't sufficiently show that Murray and his company breached their contract with "excessive" delays on renovations or committed fraud or misrepresentation.
"Weighing the evidence, the court finds a breach of contract in regards to workmanship occurred," she said in her June 10 decision.
Thompson said having an independent contractor who didn't work for Murray or the VA inspect the renovations in Barrett's home and verify that Murray's work didn't meet building standards saved their case.
"The judge did reach a good outcome here, but it was just incredibly horrible work," Thompson said.
According to Thompson, he joined the Marines right out of high school after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
He said he has friends in the armed forces who have been "blown up or shot" and received the same VA grants as Barrett, making Barrett's case personal for him.
"I hope someone would step up for them and do the right thing like Varnum did in this instance," Thompson said.
--Editing by Marygrace Murphy.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Thompson's recollection of Barrett's injury. That error has been corrected.