Continuing the State’s crackdown on Superstorm Sandy fraud, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Division of Consumer Affairs have filed an action against a Manahawkin contractor and his home improvement company for allegedly bilking $280,750 in Sandy relief funds from six shore homeowners that hired him to renovate and elevate their storm-damaged homes.
George LaRosa and his company, GL Construction Limited Liability Company (“GL Construction”), took initial payments from consumers for home improvements and elevations and then failed to begin work, performed work in a substandard manner, and/or abandoned unfinished projects without returning for weeks, months, or at all, according to a Complaint filed by the State in Ocean County Superior Court.
The six homeowners named in the Complaint were all recipients of federal grants from the Department of Community Affairs’ Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program, the state’s largest rebuilding initiative in the wake of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
This is the third Complaint the Division of Consumer Affairs has filed against contractors who allegedly defrauded Sandy victims out of RREM funds.
On its website, GL Construction alluded to new home elevation requirements mandated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
In reality, GL Construction was not registered with the State as a home elevation contractor, as required, and at varying times, the defendants performed home elevation and renovation in a substandard manner including: failing to raise a house to the required level, installing a foundation that failed municipal inspection, incorrectly framing a house, failing to install the required fire-resistant sheetrock incorrectly framing a doorway so the door did not fit, and incorrectly installing flooring, necessitating reinstallation, and then failing to make the necessary corrective repairs, the Complaint alleges.
The Complaint alleges that LaRosa and GL Construction violated the Consumer Fraud Act, the Contractors’ Registration Act, the Home Elevation Regulations, the Home Improvement Regulations, and the Advertising Regulations, by actions that include:
· Failing to begin and/or complete the home improvement and/or home elevation work specified by the GL Home Elevation contract.
· Failing to respond to consumer calls, e-mails and/or texts inquiring into when defendants would continue home improvement work, home elevation work, and/or construction of a new home that had been commenced, but then had been abandoned.
· On at least one occasion, misrepresenting to a consumer that a building inspection had been conducted, when such was not the case.
· Failing to perform work they were paid to perform, thus requiring consumers to pay other home improvement contractors to perform the work.
· Failing to pay subcontractors who performed home improvement, home elevation or new home construction work, resulting in subcontractors seeking payment from consumers and/or threatening to place construction liens on the consumers’ homes.
· Advertising and/or performing home elevations without being registered as a Home Elevation Contractor.
The Complaint seeks consumer restitution, the disgorgement of unlawfully acquired or retained RREM funds to the Department of Community Affairs, reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, and civil penalties. The state also seeks to cancel the Certificate of Formation in the State of GL Construction, Limited Liability Company, permanently revoke the Home Improvement Contractor and New Home Builders registrations issued to GL Construction, and permanently enjoin the defendants from owning or operating a home improvement business in New Jersey, and from advertising and or performing home improvements, including home elevation, and new home building, within the State.
Consumers who believe they have been cheated or scammed by a business, or suspect any other form of consumer abuse, can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504-6200.