A San Juan fiberglass pool
Not happy with the cracks running through their pool, an Orange County couple has filed suit against the makers and the sellers of their backyard swimming pool.
Larry and Christine Ford filed suit against Howard "Buddy" Hamilton and his wife Stacy, along with San Juan Fiberglass pools on April 21 in the Orange County District Court.
Buddy and Stacy Hamilton are authorized dealers of San Juan Pools, which specializes in manufacturing fiber glass pools.
A similar suit was filed against the Hamiltons and San Juan Pools on behalf of Sandra Burrell on April 18 in the Jefferson County District Court.
The two cases are being handled by attorney Hubert Oxford of the Benckenstein & Oxford law firm.
In both suits, Oxford writes that his clients entered into a contract with the Hamiltons for the purchase and installation of a San Juan pool. Years after the purchase, the pools began flaking and cracking - a problem both sets of plaintiffs allege San Juan Pools and the Hamiltons were aware of at the time of the sale.
The Fords claim the defendants violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act when they sold the pool while allegedly having actual knowledge that it would someday crack. They also accuse the defendants of breaching their contract.
In an e-mail to the Southeast Texas Record, Oxford explained that Hamilton Pools was allegedly selling San Juan Pools, but the pools were not actually San Juan Pools.
"San Juan knew what their agent was doing but failed to stop him," Oxford wrote. "No different than you buying fake Rolex watch and Rolex knowing that their agent was selling these watches."
According to its Web site, San Juan Pools manufactures high-quality fiberglass pools.
"With San Juan Products, there's never any room for compromise on quality. All San Juan fiberglass pools are manufactured in a controlled factory environment under strict supervision, resulting in a predictable high-quality product right down to the tile and accessory installations," the site says.
Under the DTPA, the Fords are suing for actual and consequential damages.
The case has been assigned to Judge Dennis Powell, 163rd Judicial District.
B-080158-c