After being sued in 2018 over subpar homes they constructed in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt and his Make It Right Foundation reached a $20.5 million settlement.
Global Green, an environmental group, has agreed to pay for the preliminary deal, which still needs to be confirmed by a judge. This settlement will fix the homes’ flaws.
The 107 homeowners that participated in the programme will be eligible to earn $25,000 apiece in payment for prior repairs, according to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
Pitt said in a statement on Thursday, “I am tremendously appreciative for Global Green’s willingness to step up and give this crucial support for the Lower Ninth families.
“We worked together in the first few months after Katrina, and we are incredibly grateful for Global Green’s kind and ongoing commitment to addressing the issues surrounding these homes and those in need. We can all hopefully look forward to future possibilities to further fortify this strong community thanks to this agreement.
The Oscar winner and his partners were sued by homeowners of homes constructed by the Make It Right Foundation for contract violations, fraud, and poor design and building techniques.
While the actor served as the organization’s public face and helped raise millions of dollars to build the homes, which were sold for about $150,000 each, he delegated the foundation’s day-to-day duties instead, only stepping back in to help when Make It Right proved unable to maintain the defective homes, which ultimately resulted in the lawsuit.
They had faith in Brad Pitt. They were sold a dream, and they believed it. Unfortunately, they received a lot of unfulfilled promises. Ron Austin, a class action suit attorney, told Newsnation’s Ashleigh Banfield in February that many people were “living in decaying houses that should be knocked down to the ground and starting over.”
Pitt had earlier asked to be excluded from the lawsuit because he felt he shouldn’t be held accountable for the project’s actual construction.
Despite being a co-founder, a source previously told Page Six that Brad “wasn’t on the board for years.” “When issues developed, he promised to assist in making things right.”
