Settlement

In an unexpected development, the mediation did go forward yesterday. At the start of the day, the builder's insurer still didn't have authority to give us any money, but apparently the mediator worked with her and the attorneys for the other parties and managed to get that resolved. (Bonus: we got to be involved over the phone and didn't have to spend our day in the mediator's office, as expected) We're still waiting for an agreement etched in gold, but we're very close. The mediator thinks he can get us a few thousand more so he's going to take through Monday to see what can be done.

For those who have no idea what the heck I'm talking about, a quick recap. Last May we decided to have our 1998-built stucco home tested for moisture intrusion. We'd read all the newspaper articles about homes from that era (particularly stucco) degrading internally from wet-rot, we saw a few neighbors have issues, and we knew we were coming up on the end of our 10-year builder's warranty, so we wanted to have it checked. Correction: Pete wanted to have it checked. I was too cheap to spend the $415. We did it (thank God). We have significant problems. Attorney hired, suit filed, yadda yadda yadda.

So here we are. While we're not ecstatic about the numbers we're talking in this mediation, we are satisfied, and we're looking forward to getting this darn thing over with. We're sick of attorney fees and I'm hopeful to get this work done pre-newborn.

Here's hoping the final details work out and we can just move on.