Tycoon's $1.7M lawsuit over sinking Saigon villas ends in $65,000 award
A Ho Chi Minh City court on Thursday awarded the owner of six sinking villas over VND1.7 billion (US$65,500) of the nearly VND45 billion she sought over construction next door.
An 80-year-old Vietnamese tycoon accused Elegance Real Estate Investment Company and Masterise Real Estate Development of causing her luxury villas to crack and sink. Toan Thang Co. Ltd. founder Tran Thi Toan bought the six adjoining villas in Saigon's Ba Son Central Complex in 2017 for the equivalent of $1.7 million. The construction of the 40-story Ba Son Central Complex next to the villas allegedly caused the properties to crack and subside, leaving four of them vacant.
Toan sought $150,000 in repairs and $1.58 million in lost rental income. However, the People's Court of Region 1 awarded her only $65,000 for repair costs. The court found that while the area's soft ground and construction-related factors contributed to the damage, the construction of the Ba Son Central Complex project was a significant cause.
The investor, Elegance, argued the damage was due to natural causes and lacked a causal link to the lost rental income. The court dismissed the lost rental claim, but found the contractor could be held jointly liable for the damage.
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