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Update:
- Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation agreed to pay $20.5 million to resolve claims that homes the program built in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina were poor quality and required homeowners to make pricey repairs.Â
- Pitt founded the program two years after Hurricane Katrina in 2007 as a way to replace housing lost in the natural disaster.Â
- A class of 107 homeowners that were involved in the program will be eligible to receive up to $25,000 in reimbursement for previous repairs they had to make for issues such as sagging porches, leaky roofs and mildewing wood, Fox News reports.Â
- Remaining funds from the class action settlement will be divided among homeowners according to what condition their homes are in.Â
(Nov. 28, 2018)
Brad Pitt is fighting to remove himself from a class action lawsuit filed by New Orleans homeowners who allege they received poorly constructed homes from his Make It Right Foundation after Hurricane Katrina.
The actor argues that the homeowners have not submitted clear evidence that he personally has wronged them in some manner. Pitt wants out of the Make it Right class action lawsuit as a result.
Allegedly, the poorly constructed homes were given to homeowners in New Orleans after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina.
Pitt founded the Make It Right charity in 2007 after reportedly being frustrated with the slow pace of rebuilding in New Orleans after the hurricane.
The Make it Right class action lawsuit, however, does not target the charity alone. More than a dozen other defendants, including Pitt, were named in the class action lawsuit.
The defendant’s legal counsel, however, says that Brad Pitt personally did not do any wrong to any of the plaintiffs named in the Make It Right class action lawsuit since he did not actively participate in any of the building projects.
Allegedly none of the putative Class Members had any direct dealings with Pitt, a point that his lawyers argue should exempt him from being pursued as a defendant.
The two lead plaintiffs in the Make it Right class action lawsuit seek to represent more than 100 Class Members who own homes that were built by the foundation.
The plaintiffs in the Make It Right class action argue that they received defective homes impacted by rotting wood, water leaks, structural problems, and other concerns.
The Make it Right class action lawsuit argues that since Brad Pitt is the founder of the organization and sits on the board of directors that he had a good faith responsibility to the homeowners.
However, Louisiana laws don’t allow third parties, such as those who received homes from the foundation, to pursue a company’s directors for wrongdoing on the part of the company.
The plaintiffs in the Make it Right class action lawsuit say that the defects in their homes caused them emotional distress in addition to the damages caused by structural issues.
Pitt filed a motion to dismiss the claims against him in the lawsuit since he continues to allege that he cannot be held personally responsible.
However, counsel for the homeowners say that Pitt does owe a responsibility to the homeowners and to the Make It Right organization.
Pitt is not the first officer of the company to ask for the individual claims against them to be dropped. Several former officers have pending motions requesting similar dismissal.
The homeowners in the Make It Right class action lawsuit are represented by Ron Austin and Catherine Hilton of Ron Austin & Associates LLC.
The Make it Right Class Action Lawsuit is Francis, et al. v. Make It Right-New Orleans LLC, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-09906, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
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