• On the day her campaign announced an endorsement from N.C. Gov. Mike Easley, Sen. Hillary Clinton told voters in Charlotte to treat Tuesday's primary as a hiring decision.
Clinton laced her 45-minute speech with policy initiatives on everything from health care to gas prices to ending the Iraq war.
Earlier in Concord, where 300 supporters braved a downpour outside Troutman's Bar-B-Q, she promised to create jobs for an area devastated by the loss of textile employment.
Mike Curtis, a Concord Democrat, likes Clinton's experience and her interest in affordable health care. He said he voted for George W. Bush twice.
WEDNESDAY
• A U.S. district judge has dismissed a Concord couple's lawsuit against Beazer Homes USA, saying the couple failed to prove the homebuilder's lending practices resulted in foreclosures that contributed to falling property values.
Lea and Mark Tingley sued Beazer in March 2007, alleging Beazer illegally arranged loans that some borrowers could not afford, producing a high rate of foreclosures and a subsequent decline in property values in the Tingleys' Southern Chase neighborhood.
The dismissal last week is at least the second in the past eight months in which a Carolinas homeowner alleged that Beazer lending practices led to falling property values. In September, a federal judge ruled that a Columbia woman failed to show damages from Beazer's actions because she hadn't sold her house and incurred losses.
The cases illustrate the difficulties homeowners may have nationwide finding relief from the courts in a multilayered foreclosure crisis.
The Tingleys first appeared in an Observer investigation in March 2007 on Southern Chase, their neighborhood, and Beazer, their Atlanta-based homebuilder. In its report, the Observer found that Beazer had violated federal lending laws and engaged in questionable lending practices, leading to dozens of foreclosures in Southern Chase -- and hundreds in Mecklenburg County.
FRIDAY
• Lawyers will appeal the dismissal of a Concord couple's lawsuit against Beazer Homes USA that alleges the homebuilder's lending practices led to foreclosures, which hurt property values.
A federal judge dismissed the case last week, saying it didn't directly connect Beazer's actions with property value losses for Lea and Mark Tingley. Foreclosures in their Southern Chase neighborhood could have resulted from factors such as job losses and a weaker economy, the judge wrote.
The Tingleys' lawyers say they want an opportunity to present evidence showing the link.
"To say there could have been other causes is not a sufficient cause to dismiss the case," said Gary Jackson, one of two Charlotte lawyers representing the couple. "These people deserve their day in court to show that the cause was indeed Beazer's actions."
Beazer hasn't responded to requests for comment on the dismissal or the decision to appeal.
Week In Review
