Lawsuit claims company was negligent
By Ronnie Lynn
The Desert Sun
July 6th, 2000
Nearly 80 mobile home owners filed suit Wednesday against Marriott Ownership Resorts for damages suffered from
blowing sand generated from its nearby golf course construction project in Palm Desert.
Filed in Riverside County Superior Court, the suit alleges Marriott negligently skimped on mitigation measures
that would have protected residents of Palm Desert Greens Country Club and the Kaufman-Broad development from the
dust and sand generated by construction of the company’s Shadow Ridge Project.
Marriott has been cited more than a dozen times for not controlling the sand blowing off the site near Monterey
Avenue and Gerald Ford Drive.
Requirements: The South Coast Air Quality Management District last month attempted to force compliance by promising
to set up a set of strict requirements Marriott must follow to ensure no more violations occur.
Nonetheless, the suit asks for unspecified general and punitive damages for the construction’s impact on residents,
including property damage, health problems and lost wages due to health problems. Attorneys representing residents
have said that property damage at several homes is likely to be in excess of $15,000.
Marriott has paid property damage insurance claims filed by many of the 500 affected residents, but for some, the
company’s response is too little, too late, said Frederic Greenblatt, a Woodland Hills attorney who filed the suit.
“(As) the Marriott conduct continued on, it became clear to us that the only alternative to us was to file a lawsuit
to get fair and adequate and just compensation,” he said.
Marriott officials had not seen the lawsuit Wednesday night and declined to comment on it.
Responsibility: Besides seeking damages for the impacts from blowing sand, the suit alleges that Marriott knew
its project impacted downwind neighbors but chose to ignore responsibility for those impacts.
“It is our belief it was to save money and to expedite the timetable to facilitate the project,” Greenblatt said.
“It became a money issue. We call it greed.”
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