CHARLESTON — An Elkview man is suing Old Colony Realtors for breach of contract and fraud.
David Higinbotham and Danette Higinbotham were also named as defendants in the suit.
David Boyd purchased a home in 2015 from the Higinbothams and after several years, he noticed some cracking that was not present when he purchased the home, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Boyd claims his wife, who was an employee of Old Colony, researched all prior involvement Old Colony had had with the home and discovered the seller's property condition disclosure forms, but those forms did not contain any previous structural reports.
Boyd's wife then brought her concerns to her supervisor, R. Joseph Miller, and showed him the discrepancies, according to the suit. Boyd and his wife then began to suspect there were more problems with the home that had not been disclosed to them.
Boyd claims his wife soon after discovered two structural inspection reports that had been withheld from them. They had their own structural inspection performed in 2017, which revealed substantial structural issues with the home.
Old Colony and the Higinbothams breached their contracts with Boyd by failing to disclose that the home had structural deficiencies and defects, according to the suit.
Boyd claims the defendants had actual knowledge of the hidden defects and failed to disclose those defects to Boyd and his wife.
The complaint also alleges fraud for the defendants' representations of the home.
"Upon information and belief, the defects were not disclosed to Plaintiff because disclosure of the defects would have prevented the sale of the home, or would have resulted in a serious reduction in profits," the complaint states.
Boyd is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. He is represented by Joshua R. Martin of The Martin Law Firm in Nitro.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Tod J. Kaufman.
Kanawha Circuit Court Case number: 19-C-1090