Fraud – Jury sides with couple in home construction case

$1.029 million verdict

Injuries alleged: Actual fraud, constructive fraud and false advertising

Name of case: James Peter Ferrell and Jenna Carolyn Ferrell v. Sherry B. Benson, Administrator, Estate of Johnny W. Benson, and Long & Foster Real Estate Inc.

Court: Fairfax County Circuit Court

Case no.: CL-2023-0014205

Tried before: Jury

Name of judge: Judge Manuel Capsalis

Date resolved: March 25, 2026

Offer: $60,000

Amount: $1.029 million

Attorneys for plaintiff: Timothy Bosson and Ryan McAnally, Fairfax, Bosson Legal Group

Case description: A Fairfax jury awarded over $1 million in damages to a military family after finding a Realtor and his supervising brokerage fraudulently induced the plaintiffs into hiring a homebuilder to build their former Springfield residence. The founder of the construction company was arrested in October 2023 and will stand trial in June on six criminal charges.

The plaintiff family — including two active-duty military attorneys — were under orders to report to the Washington, D.C., area and needed a move-in-ready home by July 2022. Plaintiffs contacted the defendants — a Realtor and his brokerage — after seeing their listing for a Springfield property “to be built in 2021” by a “quality builder.” The Realtor assured the plaintiffs that the builder was experienced and would complete their home in six months after obtaining permits.

Defendants’ representations and the involvement of an established, reputable brokerage made the plaintiffs feel comfortable enough to hire the builder in January 2022. Meanwhile, defendants received a substantial commission from the building company’s founder on each new construction contract. Unbeknownst to the plaintiffs, the Realtor had also signed himself up as their buyer’s agent in the deal without their permission and collected commissions as if he had represented the plaintiffs.

When the plaintiffs arrived in Virginia in July 2022, they found the lot was still “literally just a pile of dirt” and had to obtain temporary housing through March 2023. The project saw delays, accounting discrepancies, failed inspections and poor construction.

After firing the builder in 2023, plaintiffs hired another builder to complete the home. All told, poor construction and delays cost the plaintiffs over $300,000.

After plaintiffs filed suit in October 2023, the defendants vigorously contested liability and maintained that the lawsuit was “frivolous.” Plaintiffs’ counsel successfully opposed repeated dispositive motions, including two demurrers, two plea in bars and an eight-issue motion to strike raised mid-trial.

Plaintiffs’ case was further complicated by the death of the defendant Realtor in
October 2024, which triggered stricter evidentiary rules at trial. Moreover, due to pending criminal charges, the builder and other potential defense witnesses refused to testify in the case, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights.

With numerous key witnesses either unwilling or unable to testify, plaintiffs’ counsel conducted extensive discovery, issued numerous third-party subpoenas and filed more than five discovery motions and briefs, including multiple motions to compel.

Documents obtained from the defendants in discovery revealed that after plaintiffs signed the deal contracts, the defendant Realtor privately joked with a coworker that deals were “so much easier” when the buyer did not have their own Realtor to ask questions. The coworker responded with surprise that the plaintiffs had signed off on the deal. Far from the six-month timeline promised to plaintiffs, the Realtor privately told other Realtors that a custom home build would take a minimum of 10-12 months.

Meanwhile, records revealed the Realtor’s brokerage disbursed commissions to the defendant Realtor on multiple building contracts through the defendant builder, though the Realtor failed to obtain written brokerage agreements or disclose his dual agency — each a violation of Long & Foster’s internal policies and Virginia law. Long & Foster never took disciplinary action against the Realtor.

Plaintiffs’ counsel successfully established that both defendants had been warned that the builder procured its contractor license by fraud, was unqualified to build homes and that its founder had a long history of scamming homeowners. Defendant brokerage’s supervising brokers neglected to investigate numerous red flags and mounting client complaints about the builder. Defendants continued working with the builder — even after the founder’s arrest in October 2023. All told, defendants signed up over 14 families with the builder.

Plaintiffs made numerous attempts to settle the matter during litigation. Prior to trial, defendants’ highest settlement offer was $60,000. After defendants’ mid-trial motion to strike was denied, plaintiffs offered to settle the case for $800,000 plus attorney fees but were again rejected.

The six-day jury trial saw testimony from numerous witnesses, including past alleged victims of the builder’s founder, a real estate expert and a construction expert. Defendants’ counsel sought to pin blame on the builder or on the plaintiffs for failing to realize the advertising and representations about the builder were unlikely to be true. The jury rejected these claims and found defendant brokerage liable for constructive fraud and false advertising. The Realtor was found liable for actual fraud and false advertising.

Jurors awarded the plaintiffs over $869,000 in compensatory damages and three years of pre-judgment interest (currently calculated at over $160,000). Plaintiffs are also seeking disgorgement of the $35,615 in real estate commissions defendants were paid on the deal. With an award of plaintiffs’ attorney fees to be determined at a later hearing, the award is expected to far exceed $1 million.