The People's Court of Region 1 heard the non-contractual damages suit filed by Tran Thi Toan, 80, against Elegance Real Estate Investment Company, investor of the 40-plus-story Ba Son Central Complex, and the project's developer, Masterise Real Estate Development.

Toan founded and runs Toan Thang Co. Ltd., which owns some white stone quarries in central Vietnam. She also owns a luxury hotel there.

In 2017, she made headlines by buying six adjoining villas at once at the Vinhomes Golden River Ba Son project in Saigon Ward, formerly part of HCMC's central District 1. The villas are now worth trillions of dong. (VND1 trillion equals $38.5 million)

Elegance broke ground on the Ba Son Central Complex next to the villas in 2020. Toan's lawsuit alleged the construction caused the villas to crack and sink.

She complained to the ward People's Committee to bring the investor to the table, but Elegance denied its construction was to blame, according to her filing.

Toan said the damage left her unable to honor signed leases, leaving four villas vacant. She sought VND3.9 billion ($150,000) for repairs and VND41 billion ($1.58 million) in lost rental income.

Elegance's authorized representative rejected the claims, arguing the company had no dealings with Toan and therefore owed her nothing. It attributed the cracking and subsidence to natural causes, saying the villas sit on soft ground.

The company also asked the court to throw out some of Toan's rental income evidence, arguing it had not been lawfully obtained.

Masterise, a co-defendant, said it had nothing to do with the damage, submitted no response and asked to be excused from all hearings, including the trial.

Toan stood by her claims but rejected the findings of Saigon Construction Inspection JSC, the firm that assessed the cause of the subsidence. Arguing its conclusions did not fully capture the causes and consequences, she asked the panel to adjourn so she could gather more evidence and use an assessment from a firm of her choosing.

The trial panel partly upheld her suit, ordering Elegance to cover more than VND1.7 billion in repair costs.

Villas owned by Tran Thi Toan at Vinhomes Golden River Ba Son in HCMC. Photo courtesy of Toan

Survey records compiled before construction began showed the villas were already damaged, with hairline cracks in perimeter walls, cracked fence pillars and settlement in some sections, the panel said.

Citing the assessment, the court found the area sits on soft ground easily affected by nearby construction, groundwater pumping, excavation and construction equipment, all of which accelerate consolidation settlement.

For villas 16 and 17, the assessors concluded the damage stemmed partly from the area's ongoing settlement but "mainly from the impact of the construction of the Ba Son Central Complex project."

Groundwater pumping and equipment at the project sped up that settlement, sinking villa 17's internal road, garden and perimeter wall.

Beyond the tilting and settlement, damage to the two villas' main structures largely came down to how they were built and maintained, along with material shrinkage.

Damage to villas 14, 15, 18 and 19 was attributed to the buildings' own settlement and partly to settlement of the area's infrastructure.

Cracks in the perimeter walls of Tran Thi Toan's villa at Vinhomes Golden River Ba Son in HCMC. Photo courtesy of Toan

With multiple causes at play, the panel found no basis to make the investor pay the full amount. It also found no grounds to hold Masterise jointly liable, since it was the project's developer rather than its investor.

The panel said the project's construction contractor could be held jointly liable with Elegance. Because Toan had not sued the contractor, it reserved her right to bring a separate civil case.

The court rejected the VND41 billion lost-rent claim outright.

Toan had produced some contracts and documents showing the villas had been leased but failed to prove actual losses, the panel said. Nor did she show the damage caused the leases to end, a causal link she needed to establish to win compensation.