Leaky windows. Sloping floors. Doors that won’t close.
Those are only a few of the defect allegations made by “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” star Rachel Bloom and husband Dan Gregor in a fraud lawsuit filed Monday against real estate investor Raul Menjivar, who has business ties to former USC football players Matt Leinart and Brandon Hance.
Bloom and her producer-writer husband are alleging they were taken advantage of as “unsuspecting” first-time home buyers when they spent $1.3 million on a property in late 2015.
The couple say in the suit that they’ll have to spend a minimum of $500,000 to fix — among other things — the windows, floors, doors, cracking walls and a load-bearing wall that was removed in the basement and then restored without proper shoring. Earthquake retrofitting was also “inadequate and essentially cosmetic,” the suit says, with bracing posts only appearing to be properly affixed to the foundation.
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In the lawsuit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Bloom and Gregor say they were victims of “a fraudulent ‘property flipping’ operation conducted through various fly-by-night entities” controlled by Menjivar along with Leinart and Hance. Menjivar, the RUN Group LLP and Avenue Homes, who are among the defendants, are accused of intentionally concealing and not disclosing the property’s known defects.
Renovation work at the front of the house was “rushed and improperly phased, without providing sufficient time for the improvements to settle before moving on to the next phase,” the suit says, resulting in foundation work that’s now cracking and chipping.
“Raul Menjivar as a California licensed contractor had unique and heightened knowledge of what was and was not a material aspect or defect of the property prior to the sale,” the lawsuit says.
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The only defects listed? “Garage concrete paid [sic] is cracked in a few areas and has new wood framing and post that were installed as a result of termite dry rot damage in garage,” according to the suit.
Bloom and Gregor say in the document that they tried to go to mediation but were refused. In addition to compensatory damages of at least $500,000, they are asking for punitive damages, attorney’s fees, court costs and more.
Menjivar and Hance are both associated with the RUN Group II and are listed as co-founders of Avenue Homes, with the former focusing on acquisitions and the latter serving as chief executive. Leinart is listed as a partner/business development.
Leinart and Hance played football at USC together in 2003 and 2004. Leinart was the starting quarterback in the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons and won the Heisman Trophy in 2004. After playing for six years in the NFL, he’s now an analyst for Fox Sports.
Menjivar was not immediately available for comment Monday, and members of Bloom’s team did not respond immediately to a request for comment.