[CPEO-MEF] KB Home sues for slander

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Texas
KB Home sues for slander
By Adolfo Pesquera
Express-News Business Writer
Web Posted : 03/14/2003 12:00 AM

KB Home, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, is suing grass roots
consumer organization Homeowners for Better Building for slander and
wrongful interference in its business practices.
In a March 6 amendment to a lawsuit filed last year against a KB Home
customer in Arlington, KB Home asks a civil district court in Tarrant
County to find that Homeowners for Better Building, along with its
president, Janet Ahmad, are operating a criminal enterprise, subject to
the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

That act, commonly known as the RICO Act, was originally designed to go
after East Coast Mafia families.

The original lawsuit alleges that nine KB Home customers and
non-customers conspired with the homeowners' group to extort money. The
suit also accuses Ahmad and Arlington resident Thea King-Lewis of
planting a miniature vintage practice bomb in a KB Home community in
Arlington on Jan. 26, 2002.

The neighborhood was built atop a former World War II military practice
bombing range, and residents had previously uncovered some unexploded
but harmless ordnance. Several families sued KB Home for non-disclosure.

Witnesses deposed by KB Home attorneys — including two Arlington police
officers — said it appeared that Ahmad had planted the device. KB Home
alleges it was part of a staged media event.

This article can be viewed at:
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=110&xlc=963237

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