The Columbus Dispatch reports on lawsuits in Ohio. "Add two class-action lawsuits to the challenges facing Dominion Homes. In a coincidental one-two punch, homeowners in three subdivisions filed lawsuits yesterday against the Dublin-based builder. The lawsuits, filed in different courts, could affect thousands of Dominion customers in central Ohio."

"'Buyers always are going to be suspicious from this day forward,' said Delaware resident Jim Newton, the chief economic adviser for Commerce National Bank. 'To dig out of this kind of mess is pretty tough.'"

"Clifford and Shannon Rece and Christopher and Amanda Endl, who live in separate Far West Side subdivisions, say their houses are overpriced because purchase and financing incentives were wrapped into the cost. 'The effect of the scheme employed by Dominion Homes is to sell homes ..worth far less than the amount financed and less than the amount of the appraisal,' says the lawsuit."

"Residents at the subdivision in southern Delaware County filed the other lawsuit because their FHA loans were converted secretly to mortgages for borrowers with poor credit. Stephanie Stuart, Amy and Scott Rudawsky, and Michelle and Jeffrey Beard were 'tricked into purchasing a home which lacked the resale benefits of an assumable FHA mortgage,' Zanesville attorney Gary M. Smith wrote in the federal suit."

"The Reces and Endls blame Dominion for the drop in home values in Galloway Ridge and the Village at Galloway Ridge. The lawsuit contends that Dominion artificially pumped up the prices of its new homes to cover enticements such as down-payment assistance and interest-rate subsidies."

"Out of 17 sales last year in the Village at Galloway Ridge, only one homeowner made a profit. The median loss was $23,099. In Galloway Ridge, of the 38 houses that sold last year, 25 were sold because their owners fell into foreclosure or bankruptcy. Only 11 home sales showed a profit."

"Dominion has acknowledged that property values have declined in those two subdivisions but has blamed the problem on economic forces. 'It's not necessarily driven by mortgage lenders or practices,' Dominion Vice President Thomas Hart told Galloway Ridge residents on Jan. 31."

"However, The Dispatch has received e-mails and calls from residents in 20 other Dominion subdivisions in central Ohio who said their neighborhoods also were losing value and plagued with foreclosures. Also named in the suit are appraisers and charitable organizations that give down-payment grants that are later reimbursed by Dominion. Appraiser Michael M. Baciu, whose company, is named in the suit, declined to comment."

"The suit also accuses National City Mortgage of fraud. The Miamisburg-based lender agreed to buy FHA loans from Polaris Park borrowers but has said it returned them to Dominion when the insurance backing was denied.Dominion recently offered the residents a $2,500 settlement if they promised not to sue the company. It's unclear whether anyone accepted."

"Their attorney wrote that the homeowners 'have suffered actual damages, including but not limited to the value of an assumable mortgage, a lowering of the home's resale value due to their inability to sell a starter home to an FHA buyer, (and) lost FHA insurance premiums.' Both cases will take months if not years to resolve."