Lawsuit Charges Contractor Fraud
Matthew Smith asked the Sag Harbor Village Board Tuesday night to give him a break and waive a $5,000 fee associated with renewing an expired building permit, because, he said, his contractor, Michael Nobiletti, failed to do his job. Mr. Smith brought a lawsuit last week claiming the contractor defrauded him of more than $1 million.
“We trusted a builder to take care of business on a project that was supposed to be four to six months,” Mr. Smith, whose house at 34 Jermain Avenue has been under a massive renovation for more than a year, told the village board. When the permit was set to expire, the builder could have renewed it for free simply by submitting a request. Instead, he was in the South Pacific on vacation, Mr. Smith said.
“That’s all a matter between you and your builder. We’re obligated to bill you,” Mayor Sandra Schroeder told him.
The matter is one for the courts now. Mr. Smith has sued Mr. Nobiletti and Nobiletti Builders, a Water Mill company, for fraud and breach of contract in Suffolk County Supreme Court.
Mr. Smith hired Mr. Nobiletti to renovate his historic house on the corner of Jermain Avenue and Archibald Way in 2013. Work began in 2015 after the village’s zoning board of appeals and architectural review board approved the plans. The renovation was supposed to cost $652,000 and be completed within six months. Mr. Smith said in the lawsuit that he spent $2.5 million over 18 months, “with no end in sight.”
The work is still incomplete. It is “riddled with defects — verified by two engineering consulting firms — that will require even more time and even more money to fix,” says the suit, filed by Mr. Smith’s attorney, Alex Kriegsman of Sag Harbor. During a recent rainstorm, rain poured in to many rooms through the roof. Mr. Smith has since hired a new contractor.
The suit also alleges that Mr. Nobiletti conspired with subcontractors to inflate invoices and demand kickbacks, and that the contractor failed to provide “basic oversight and coordination.”
In April, a month before the Smiths welcomed their second child and three weeks before a scheduled move-in date, they said, Mr. Nobiletti left on a reported $35,000 trip to the South Pacific. During that time, the building permit expired.
The suit claims that Tom Preiato, the building inspector, called Mr. Nobiletti on April 6 to inform him that the permit was set to expire and that it could be extended at no charge as long as a letter was written. Since the village never received a letter, the homeowners must now spend $5,000 on a new permit, a requirement before a certificate of occupancy can be issued. Mr. Nobiletti has refused to pay the fee, further delaying the certificate. The Smiths have been living in the house despite the ongoing renovations.
Reached yesterday, Mr. Nobiletti said there was “absolutely no wrongdoing by myself or my subcontractor or my suppliers against Mr. Smith.” His attorney, Anthony Conforti, called his client an honest contractor, and said he has never been sued before. Mistakes can happen, said the lawyer, and Mr. Nobiletti was prepared to correct them at his own expense, but was denied access to the property.
Mr. Conforti, who is also representing the subcontractors, said he had requested that the court compel arbitration, which had been included in the contract. A determination is expected by the end of October, he said.
With regard to the building permit, Mr. Conforti said Mr. Nobiletti has offered to offset the $5,000 against the remaining balance he says he is owed, but that he would not pay for it directly. “We have provided [Mr. Smith] with every document in our possession or control to get a C of O. My client has offered to get the C of O for him, because it was part of his contract. Those offers were rebuffed by Smith,” Mr. Conforti said.
Also named in the suit are Highland Construction, H&F Landscape Design Inc., Paul Bennett Construction, Jay’s Drywall, Hudson River Mills, Water Mill Building Supply, and Dash Windows.