PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contact: Olha Rybakoff, Deputy Attorney General

Director, Consumer Protection Unit

Phone: (302) 577-8513 or 218-0001

Date: December 7, 2004

$223,013 in Statutory Penalties Assessed by Jury in Lea Eara Farms Suit

Civil Enforcement Action by Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit Successful

(Wilmington, DE): Attorney General Jane Brady announced today that, following a six week trial, a jury in New Castle County Superior Court found Albert A. Vietri, Tina Marie Vietri, and Joseph L. Capano, II and two of the three companies they own, Wellington Homes, and 397 Properties, L.L.C., (hereinafter, Defendants) to be in violation of Delaware’s Consumer Fraud Act and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. 



The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict as to two additional defendants, Joseph L. Capano and Christiana Ventures, Inc. but did find Christiana Ventures, Inc. in violation of the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.



The civil enforcement action, originally filed in September, 1999, alleged the defendants

committed various acts of consumer fraud in connection with the advertising, sale and construction of residential homes in the Lea Eara Farms development near Middletown, DE. 



As a result of the jury’s verdict, a special restitution hearing will be scheduled to address the losses suffered by the affected homeowners.



For violating the State’s consumer protection laws, penalties in the amount of $223,013 were

assessed by the jury as follows:



· Wellington Homes was found to have committed 12 willful violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and was assessed a civil penalty of $55,571

· 397 Properties, LLC was found to have committed 15 willful violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and was assessed a civil penalty of $46,030

· Albert Vietri, a principal in 397 Properties, LLC, was found to have committed 15 willful violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and was assessed a civil penalty of $46,030

· Tina Vietri Meyers, a principal in Wellington Homes, was found to have committed 7 willful violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and was assessed a civil penalty of $18,793

· Joseph L. Capano, II, a principal in Wellington Homes, was found to have committed 12 willful violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and was assessed a civil penalty of $56,589



These statutory penalties will be paid to the Delaware Consumer Protection Fund. 

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