On February 18, 2010, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California announced that it dismissed with prejudice a putative class action lawsuit filed against Pulte Homes, Inc., Pulte Home Corporation and Pulte Mortgage LLC. The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that Pulte engaged in misconduct that contributed to the mortgage crisis. The suit drew from reports issued by the Laborer's International Union of North America (LiUNA) and other union-related groups that attempt to blame Pulte and other large homebuilders for the mortgage crisis. In fact, the attorneys who drafted the suit lifted sections of one union sponsored report and inserted them verbatim into the complaint. The lawsuit was filed by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLP, which has worked with LiUNA to file at least one other class action lawsuit against another national homebuilder. According to Pulte Homes, for some time, LiUNA and other union groups have engaged in an intimidation campaign against Pulte in order to coerce the Company to force its independent trade partners to sign union agreements. As part of that campaign, these union groups have been behind false claims that Pulte and other residential homebuilders engaged in improper practices with respect to the sale of homes. They have pressed these same false claims through official-looking, but misleading, reports, lawsuits, media articles and testimony before various State and Federal regulatory and rulemaking proceedings.
V. CONCLUSION
This Court finds that Plaintiff lacks statutory standing to
sue Pulte for its alleged bait-and-switch scheme. The Court
further finds that Plaintiff would be unable to amend her pleadings
so as to correct these deficiencies without directly contradicting
the pleadings set forth in her initial Complaint. Consequently,
Plaintiff's first and second causes of action are DISMISSED WITH
PREJUDICE as to Plaintiff's bait-and-switch allegations.
This Court further finds that Plaintiff lacks constitutional
standing to assert any cause of action based on a theory that
Defendants harmed her by causing her house to depreciate in value.
Consequently, all of Plaintiff's remaining causes of action are
DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.
On February 18, 2010, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California announced that it dismissed with prejudice a putative class action lawsuit filed against Pulte Homes, Inc., Pulte Home Corporation and Pulte Mortgage LLC. The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that Pulte engaged in misconduct that contributed to the mortgage crisis. The suit drew from reports issued by the Laborer's International Union of North America (LiUNA) and other union-related groups that attempt to blame Pulte and other large homebuilders for the mortgage crisis. In fact, the attorneys who drafted the suit lifted sections of one union sponsored report and inserted them verbatim into the complaint. The lawsuit was filed by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLP, which has worked with LiUNA to file at least one other class action lawsuit against another national homebuilder. According to Pulte Homes, for some time, LiUNA and other union groups have engaged in an intimidation campaign against Pulte in order to coerce the Company to force its independent trade partners to sign union agreements. As part of that campaign, these union groups have been behind false claims that Pulte and other residential homebuilders engaged in improper practices with respect to the sale of homes. They have pressed these same false claims through official-looking, but misleading, reports, lawsuits, media articles and testimony before various State and Federal regulatory and rulemaking proceedings.