Free Lodged Proposed Document - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 Dan W. Goldfine (#018788)
Richard G. Erickson (#019066)
2 SNELL & WILMER 1..1..12
7 One Arizona Center
3 Phoenix, AZ 85004-2202
Telephone: (602) 382-6000
4 Facsimile: (602) 382-6070
[email protected]
5
6 and ‘
7 Grant Woods, Esq. (#006106)
GRANT WOODS, P.C.
8 1726 North Seventh Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85006
9 Telephone: (602) 258-2599 -
Facsimile: (602) 258-5070 A
10 [email protected]
ll Attorneys for Plaintiffs
H 12 IN THE·UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
cé i 13 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
3 3 14 Meritage Homes Corporation, a Maryland
<>'ZS “ B 15 Corporation, formerly d/b/a Meritage Case No. CV-04-03 84-PHX-ROS
%3 _ 5 Corporation, Hancock-MTH Builders,
gg 16 Inc., an Arizona corporation, Hancock- DECLARATION OF
VJ `§“ MTH Communities, Inc., an Arizona - ELLEN ELFORD
O 17 corporation, and currently d/b/a Meritage
Homes Construction, Inc., an Arizona
18 corporation, and Meritage Homes of
Arizona, Inc., an Arizona corporation,
19 Plaintiffs,
20 v.
21 Ricky Lee Hancock and Brenda _
Hancock, husband and wife; Gregory S.
22 Hancock and Linda Hancock, husband -
and wife, Rick Hancock Homes L.L.C.,
23 an Arizona limited liability company;
RLH Development, L.L.C., an Arizona
24 limited liability company; and J 2H2,
L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability
_ 25 company, A
26 Defendants. 7
27 `
‘ 28
1604733.1
ase 2:04-cv—00384—ROS Document 492 Filed 05/24/2007 Page 1 of 3

1 Ellen Elford declares:
2 1. I am an Arizona resident currently living in Buckeye, Arizona, where I have
3 lived for eight years at 502 North Palo Verde Road. I have personal knowledge of
4 representations, advertising and marketing by Rick Hancock Homes in Buckeye, Arizona
5 on or about 2005. ‘
6 2. In early 2005, I began shopping for a home in Buckeye and toured
7 properties with my daughter, Kelly Brassfield, who was also interested in buying a new I
8 home in the Buckeye area. My daughter and I toured model homes.
9 I 3. At the time I was shopping for a home in Buckeye, I believed that Rick _
10 Hancock Homes was one and the`same as Meritage Homes’ Hancock Communities. At
11 that time, I was familiar with the reputation of Meritage Homes’ Hancock Communities.
12 4. The Rick Hancock Homes representative, """Matt," told me that Rick
sg} 13 Hancock was the younger brother of Greg Hancock, a renowned Arizona homebuilder
14 under whom Rick Hancock had gained the necessary experience to build homes on his
15 own in Buckeye and under the name Rick Hancock Homes. Matt stated that Rick
g I 16 Hancock’s older brother, Greg Hancock, had sold to Meritage Homes’ Hancock
6 17 Communities and had left the homebuilding business to strictly do "land purchasing.” As
18 such, I did not associate Greg Hancock with Rick Hancock Homes.
19 5. I believed that purchasing from Rick Hancock Homes entitled me to use the
20 community recreation center at the adjacent Meritage Homes’ Hancock Communities
21 project. In other words, upon depositing money to purchase a home from Rick Hancock
_ 22 Homes, I believed that I was entitled to use the pool and community recreation center
23 inside the nearby Meritage Homes’ Hancock Communities development. That was a big
24 selling point for me, and I looked forward to riding my bike to the recreation center to
25 exercise. No one from Rick Hancock Homes ever told me that the community recreation
26 center was not included with my purchase from Rick Hancock Homes. I decided not to
27 buy a home from Rick Hancock Homes when I learned much later that the Meritage
28 Homes’ Hancock Communities community recreation center was not included.
ase 2:04-cv—00384—ROS Document 492 2 ` Filed 05/24/2007 Page 2 of 3

1 6. My daughter also deposited money to purchase from Rick Hancock Homes
2 and decided to buy the home even though she was disappointed to find that the
3 community recreation center was not included because Rick Hancock Homes was not the
4 same as Meritage Homes’ Hancock Communities. I
5 7. Prior to depositing money to purchase a house from Rick Hancock Homes, I
6 was familiar with the Sundance development at Buckeye because I lived nearby at 502
7 North Palo Verde Road in Buckeye.
8 . 8. I also became familiar with the billboards and other advertisements posted
9 by Rick Hancock Homes and other builders in Buckeye. I noticed especially that, on the
10 logo for Rick Hancock Homes, the word "Hancock" dominated over the word "Rick" and
11 "Homes." I saw the Hancock name to be the predominant means of advertising at Rick
§ 12 Hancock Homes. In fact, the word "Hancock" was about twice as big in print/font as
sg ' 13 "Rick" and "Homes".
E 14 9. I declare under the penalty of perjury and under penalty of possible
2 A 15 sanctions, that the foregoing is true and correct.
gi 16 Executed on May jj, 2007. ‘
6 17 y
19 Ellen Elford
20
` 21
22 _
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24
25
26
27
28 A
ase 2:04-cv—00384—ROS Document 492' 3 ‘FiIed 05/24/2007 Page 3 of 3

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