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Associated Press
Posted at 3:37 pm ET September 20, 2018
Brad Pitt is back on the scene after passing under the radar since his break with Angelina Jolie.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
Actor Brad Pitt's foundation sues an architect in New Orleans, claiming that faulty design work has led to leaks and other faults in homes built for residents of the area that has been hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday said damages by architect John C. Williams could cost the Pitt Make It Right Foundation more than $ 15 million, media reports said. The foundation donated millions of dollars to the Williams firm for the production of architectural drawings for more than 100 homes under the program, which was supposed to provide residents of the 9th Lower Division with new affordable and sustainable homes.
Enlisting award-winning architects, Pitt founded the company two years after Katrina devastated the city and essentially took away what would become Make It Right's enclave. Construction began in 2008 and consisted of replacing lost homes with 150 safe, solar-powered, highly isolated and "green" avant-garde homes. and construction was halted in 2016.
The foundation said Williams was responsible for several failures to adequately waterproof structures, including insufficiently sloped roofs. The lawsuit says Williams's attempts to repair were largely a failure and he kept managing Make It Right in the dark about the flaws.
An abandoned 7 year old house that was so rotten was demolished due to neighbors' insistence in June. In 2015, Williams was granted a permit to replace the flat roof of the leaking house. He had acknowledged in an interview in June that one or two of the Make It Right buildings "may be falling apart." to comment, the media reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit comes after New Orleans lawyer Ron Austin has filed a class action against Make It Right, accusing the charity of building substandard homes that are deteriorating rapidly. On Tuesday, Make It Right attributed this rapid deterioration to the architect that they had hired.
The lawsuit against Williams does not hold him liable for the damage done to 39 homes by the use of a weather-resistant experimental timber product called TimberSIL, which was quickly destroyed by the environment in southern Louisiana. In 2014, Make It Right sued the manufacturer of TimberSIL for $ 500,000, although it's unclear whether the company was paid.
In a prepared statement, Make It Right pledged to "continue to work proactively with the owners in the Lower 9th Ward". The non-profit organization declined to comment further.
More: The Brad Pitt Foundation accused of having built poor homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
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