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Builder seeks freeze on Majestic Hills developer’s assets

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A federal judge is being asked to freeze the assets of the developer behind North Strabane Township’s slide-prone Majestic Hills neighborhood.

Attorneys for NVR Inc. – the Virginia-based builder more commonly known as Ryan Homes – requested an injunction forcing husband and wife Joseph and Shari DeNardo of Peters Township and their companies to “preserve their assets for judgment.”

NVR filed a negligence lawsuit in October against the DeNardos, their South Fayette Township-based company JND Properties LLC and its subsidiary Majestic Hills LLC, and various contractors over the slides and damages.

The builder’s injunction request was filed on July 17. No hearing date has been set.

Efforts to reach a settlement through court-ordered mediation failed, according to a filing last week.

Majestic Hills agreed in 2004 to ready 179 single-family lots for NVR to build homes on. Instead, the builder claims the developer’s negligence caused landslides that forced township officials to condemn three houses and demolish them.

Some owners of houses in the neighborhood have also sued the developer. So have the township and local municipal authority. NVR is claiming damages of $1.6 million, but that the developers are facing more than $7 million in claims in state and federal court.

Among the reasons that lawyers from the firm Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, which represents NVR, gave for their request was an alleged intermingling failure by the DeNardos to maintain “corporate formalities.” They wrote in a 15-page brief that subcontractors seemed to treat Joseph, JND and Majestic Hills as interchangeable, or not to realize they were technically separate.

“Mr. and Mrs. DeNardo are a married couple who together established JND,” the attorneys wrote. “Thereafter, JND founded Majestic Hills as a single purpose entity. But the people and entities are indistinguishable and each is likely to be liable in this action to some degree.”

The DeNardos have denied liability for the damages.

NVR’s court action also said the state Department of Environmental Protection notified Joseph DeNardo earlier this month that it intends to seek fines over the developer’s failure to take steps – including stabilizing a hillside – identified in an Oct. 11 compliance order.

NVR’s filing cited uncertainty over the status of the Denardos’ insurance coverage. One carrier, Mutual Benefit Insurance Co., is asking a judge in Huntingdon County, where its located, to declare that it has no obligation to cover damage for the slides. Another carrier, Westfield Insurance Co., has also notified the DeNardos that its policy may not cover the damages NVR is claiming.

Similarly, NVR contends the DeNardos aren’t prepared to pay a judgment if they lose the case.

The builder’s lawyers also cited an affidavit prepared by North Strabane manager Andy Walz, who wrote that he met with Joseph DeNardo in August, September and October. Each time, DeNardo allegedly told him that he was unable to contribute money for slide repair or help people who’d been displaced.

“These statements alone provide a sufficient basis for this Court to order an asset freeze,” NVR’s filing continued.

The DeNardos’ attorney, Thomas McGinnis, didn’t return a message left at his office Friday.

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