A St. Louis City jury has awarded nearly $1 million to Francisco Reynoso and Megan Moseley after finding that the new construction home they bought in the Hi-Pointe neighborhood in January 2022 was plagued by water leaks almost from the moment they moved in. The couple paid $516,870 for the 2,200-square-foot home at 6645 Villa Ave, and within weeks discovered water pouring into the garage, windows and light fixtures.
The verdict, reached on March 13, 2026, totaled $999,049.37 and included $575,000 in actual damages, $75,000 for emotional distress and $349,049.37 in attorney's fees, according to Missouri Lawyers Media, which first reported on the case. The award also includes post-judgment interest. Reynoso and Moseley had sued four companies and two individuals in early 2023, alleging negligence, civil conspiracy, fraud, breach of warranty, breach of contract, unjust enrichment and violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, in a case captioned Francisco Reynoso and Megan Moseley v. D&R Building Group, LLC; Jolen Investments, LLC; CRI Commercial Property, LLC; Anthony and Leonard Adewunmi.
Lucas Jackson, the lead plaintiff's attorney at Weigl Law, told the outlet that the extent of the water intrusion was staggering. “Anywhere that water could enter the home, it did,” Jackson said. The lawsuit also claimed that nearby homes built by the same defendants had suffered nearly identical water problems, and that the defendants had used photos of similar neighboring homes to help market the new construction project to buyers.
Who Was Found Liable — and Who Wasn't
The jury's findings split sharply among the defendants. D&R Building Group and Leonard Adewunmi were found liable for negligence, while D&R Building Group, Jolen Investments and Leonard Adewunmi were found liable for civil conspiracy, breach of implied warranty, and Missouri Merchandising Practices Act violations. D&R Building Group, Leonard Adewunmi and Anthony Adewunmi were found liable for unjust enrichment, and Jolen Investments alone was found liable for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Not every defendant was held responsible. The jury found CRI Commercial Property, LLC and Anthony Adewunmi not liable for Missouri Merchandising Practices Act violations, breach of implied warranty, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment, and it cleared Anthony Adewunmi of negligence. Hollerbach Designs, LLC, another company originally named in the suit, was voluntarily dismissed from the case in September 2025.
D&R Building Group is a St. Louis-based general contractor and developer co-owned by brothers Leonard and Joseph Adewunmi, with a portfolio that includes multi-family townhouse developments in Soulard and Lafayette Square, according to KSDK. The company operates both as a homebuilder and a commercial electrical contractor.
Expert Testimony and Legal Framework
Rich Oris, an executive and home-improvement specialist at Mosby Building Arts who also hosts local radio home-renovation broadcasts, served as the plaintiffs' expert witness during the trial, per iHeart. Randy Bernhardt served as the defense's forensic engineering expert. Circuit Judge Craig Higgins presided over the case, which was heard in St. Louis City Circuit Court under case number 2322-CC00955.
Missouri builders have long faced an implied warranty of fitness and habitability under the state Supreme Court's 1972 ruling in Smith v. Old Warson Development Co., a doctrine that protects buyers when latent defects render a new home unlivable, according to Justia Law. Separately, the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, under Missouri Revised Statutes § 407.025, lets consumers who buy real estate for personal use recover actual damages and attorney's fees when harmed by deceptive practices or material omissions, which is how the jury was able to tack on the $349,049.37 fee award, as explained by Gausnell, O'Keefe & Thomas, LLC.
That statute was reformed in 2020 through House Bill 591, which raised the bar for private plaintiffs by requiring proof they acted as a “reasonable consumer,” per the St. Louis Bar Journal Blog — a change state lawmakers made after pushback from the business community over consumer lawsuits. Whether the trial court correctly applied that reformed standard is now a central question, since the defendants filed a notice of appeal in late July.
What Happens During the Appeal
While the appeal plays out, the judgment will continue accruing post-judgment interest at a statutory rate of 9% per annum under Missouri Revised Statutes § 408.040, which governs non-tort contract judgments until they're satisfied, according to DocDraft. The plaintiffs were represented by Luke Jackson, Krystal Weigl and Brendan Foley of Weigl Law, a firm Weigl founded to provide civil rights, employment and dispute resolution representation for individuals and small businesses, according to the She Lift Project. The defendants were represented by Patrick Thornton, Devin Hayes and Taylor Essner of Lewis Rice, along with Justin Chappell of Buckley, Engelbart & Chappell.
The purchase price the couple paid stands out against the surrounding market. Median residential sale prices in the 63139 ZIP code hover around $245,000, according to Realtor.com, meaning Reynoso and Moseley paid roughly double the neighborhood median for their new construction home near Forest Park.
The case adds to a wider pattern of costly construction defect litigation hitting the St. Louis region. Hoodline previously reported on a Glendale builder fight over $3.3M, in which a couple sued builder Period Restoration LLC for $3.375 million over severe defects and unfinished work on a $1.5 million project. Together, the cases point to growing scrutiny of custom and new-construction homebuilders across the metro area.
