A Mount Kisco development firm is demanding $14.3 million from a swimming pool contractor who allegedly built a leaky swimming pool for $324,000.
65 Dune Road LLC accused Pristine Pool Construction Corp. of breach of warranty and unjust enrichment in a complaint filed on Jan. 17 in Westchester Supreme Court.
The demand for $14.3 million is based on the same amount claimed by a homebuyer who sued 65 Dune Road and The Gaetano Development Corp. in 2019, claiming that from the moment he took possession of the new house “he began identifying defects in the construction of the residence.”
65 Dune Road is owned and controlled by Michael and Steve Gaetano, according to court records. It is named after the address in East Quogue, Suffolk County, where the firm built a 9,300-square-foot oceanfront home.
The firm hired Pristine Pool Construction, East Hampton, to build an infinity edge swimming pool for $310,000, in 2015. It approved another $13,979 in charges in 2016.
Michael D. McKnight, of Kansas, bought the house for $13.75 million in 2018. In 2019, he sued 65 Dune Road in federal court, Central Islip, Suffolk County, for breach of contract and fraud.
Among many alleged defects throughout the new house, McKnight claimed that the infinity pool was not built in accordance with the Southampton building code.
A construction expert reported that the pool did not have enough concrete to resist corrosion in a salt water environment, for example. She found leaks, signs of corrosion, organic growth, and stains caused by moisture infiltration.
While the defects did not compromise the swimming pool’s structural integrity, as of her April 2024 report, “continued excessive deterioration of the pool wall and reinforcement can eventually lead to diminished service life of the pool.”
65 Dune Road argues that if it is found liable for the swimming pool defects in the pending federal lawsuit, Pristine Pool Construction should be found solely culpable for the defects and responsible for the $14.3 million that the homebuyer is seeking in the federal case.
Pristine Pool Construction did not reply to an email asking for its side of the story.
