Legal win imperils builder's deal

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http://www.tampa-tribune.com/news/frid101i.htm

7/16/99 -- 1:25 AM

Legal win imperils builder's deal

By DAVID WASSON and JAN HOLLINGSWORTH of The Tampa Tribune

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TAMPA - Efforts to drop the state probe of a prominent developer are delayed

by a disgruntled homeowner's legal victory.

State regulators trying to dump disciplinary proceedings against a

politically connected home builder have been thrown an unexpected twist.

The Construction Industry Licensing Board, meeting Thursday in Tampa,

declined to approve a proposed settlement that would have permanently

derailed a state investigation of prominent Pensacola- area developer Edwin

Henry. The 18-member board postponed the matter until next month.

Board members said the delay is intended to give the state Department of

Business and Professional Regulation enough time to review a private

arbitration panel's order last month that Henry buy back a problem-plagued

Niceville home. The home is among those included in the disciplinary

proceedings against Henry that the department is recommending be dismissed.

Meanwhile, a former chairman of the licensing board said Thursday he

believes the group should order its own investigation.

``I think it's ridiculous what's happening over at the department,'' said

Land, 74, a retired Tampa contractor who served four years on the

licensing board under former Govs. Claude Kirk and Reubin Askew. ``It looks

like there's interference all over the place; investigators being fired,

investigations being closed down. The licensing board should get to the

bottom of this.''

The board, whose members are appointed by the governor, is responsible for

licensing and disciplining Florida's contractors. Although it is a division

within the regulatory agency and relies heavily on the findings of the

agency's investigators, the board has the authority to order its own

investigations, a provision that Land and others said is rarely used.

Land said questions surrounding the department's handling of the Henry case,

however, should be enough to convince board members now is the time.

The two-year investigation of Henry, president of the politically

influential Florida Home Builders Association, was halted shortly after

Tampa land-use lawyer was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush in

January to head the regulatory agency. Also about that time, four lawyers

and the chief investigator assigned to the Henry case were either fired or

forced to resign.

has denied any role in the decisions.

The new legal team put in charge of the department's case against Henry

began negotiating a settlement, saying the two-year, $650,000 probe alleging

a pattern of shoddy workmanship was flawed and incomplete. In exchange for

seeking the dismissal, Henry, who adamantly denies the allegations against

him, agreed to drop the civil lawsuits he had filed against the department

and several of its employees.

Final dismissal was expected to come Thursday.

Instead, the licensing board questioned how a private, impartial arbitration

panel in Okaloosa County could rule against Henry on allegations involving

one of the same houses included in a case the department contends is flawed

and incomplete.

``The arbitration award was very ambiguous,'' said agency attorney Cathleen

O'Dowd, who asked the state Construction Industry Licensing Board for time

to study the matter.

It was unclear what effect, if any, the licensing board's delay would have

on the department's decision to drop the investigation. The regulatory

agency's spokesman, Judd Bagley, could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The arbitration panel's June 30 ruling settled a civil lawsuit filed against

Henry by commercial airline pilot Hayward Hornsby, who bought a house built

by Henry's company in 1995. Hornsby, who figures he spent about $70,000 on

litigation-related expenses, said he had tried unsuccessfully for years to

get Henry to fix a myriad of construction-related problems with his home,

including wobbly exterior brick walls and warped ceilings.

At the Tampa meeting, one of Henry's lawyers, Neil of Tallahassee,

was unable to convince the board to adopt a mediation agreement that would

put an official end to the state's investigation.

said the well-publicized case already had damaged his client's

reputation.

``The longer it hangs out there without finality, the more opportunity for

something else to come up'' that could jeopardize the settlement, he said.

To which board member Karpf replied: ``If there is something out

there that might come out, I think the board would like to hear it.''

Hornsby's lawyer, Hawkins of Destin, said his client's case against

Henry was nearly identical to the allegations state investigators would have

argued in their case against the builder, if they hadn't been fired. Hawkins

said he even used some of the same witnesses the state would have called.

``My understanding is the [department's] case was built on allegations Mr.

Henry had knowledge of violations of the code before the houses were sold,''

Hawkins said. ``Mr. Hornsby's case was very similar.''

Wasson covers state government and can be reached at (850) 222-8382.