This Buddhist monastery-turned-mansion was purchased for $2.5 million in 2021. (Boulder County)
A judge in Boulder has ruled that a real estate agent and her employer can be sued for allegedly misleading the buyers of a monastery-turned-mansion that contained arsenic.
District Court Judge Dea Lindsey ruled Jan. 23 that Compass agent Eva Marie can be sued for negligence — and that her boss and employer can be held vicariously liable for her actions — because there is at least some evidence she did not disclose what she knew about the home’s water.
“The complaint plausibly alleges Ms. Marie had knowledge of an adverse, material fact which she failed to disclose to plaintiffs, causing their damages by helping to induce their purchase of the property and unmitigated exposure to its contaminated water,” Lindsey wrote.
Fifteen minutes northwest of downtown Boulder, at 500 Arroyo Chico Road, is a 27,000-square-foot mansion that was built by an eccentric inventor and entrepreneur to be an off-the-grid monastery. It includes a 30-car garage and 7,000-square-foot deck.
Its cistern and greenhouse appealed to Nicholas and Tatiana Becker, a health-conscious couple with two young children in search of rural living. Especially important to them was clean water — specifically, water free of chlorine. They had reason to believe the home was ideal.
For one, the founder of a water purification company built the monastery. Howard Selby III, who goes by Binx, created the word processor company NBI in a Boulder garage in the 1970s. Among his many other later companies was PureCycle, which makes purification systems. He now runs a nutrition clinic in Arizona with his wife, Linda Jade Fong.
But after the Beckers bought 500 Arroyo Chico Road for $2.5 million in September 2021, they started getting sick, according to a lawsuit they filed in September 2023. Water testing found “extremely dangerous levels of arsenic and unsafe levels of uranium,” they claim.
The house at 500 Arroyo Chico in Boulder has 7,000 square feet of deck space. (YouTube)
Selby and Fong say they did nothing wrong. The Beckers were given “unfettered access” to the property while inspecting it and then agreed to purchase it as is. Selby and Fong say they had no knowledge of unsafe water and never lied about the quality of the water.
In addition to Selby and Fong, the Beckers also sued Marie, her fellow Compass agent Brenda Eisenga, their supervisor James Keith, and Compass Colorado. They accuse Marie of standing by silently while Selby touted the home’s water and cited fake water test results.
“Had Marie disclosed that she and Compass had not seen documentation to support these claims, or that these claims were inconsistent with the documentation, the Beckers would have tested the water before purchase,” the couple alleged in last year’s lawsuit.
Compass and its agents asked Lindsey to dismiss them from the case in October.
“Glaringly absent from the complaint — and fatal to plaintiffs’ claim — is the allegation of a single fact suggesting that the Compass brokers had actual knowledge of the arsenic or uranium in the water,” their attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss.
Lindsey agreed to dismiss Eisenga, who had only performed a final walkthrough and done nothing to mislead the Beckers. But Marie, Keith and Compass can be sued.
A trial date has not yet been scheduled. The Beckers want a jury to decide the case.
Their lawyers are Eric Olson and Abigail Hinchcliff with the Denver firm Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff and Murray. They didn’t answer a request for comment.
Compass and its employees are represented by James Meseck, John Matthews and Jonathan Brummet from White & Steele, a Denver law firm. They declined to comment.
This Buddhist monastery-turned-mansion was purchased for $2.5 million in 2021. (Boulder County)
A judge in Boulder has ruled that a real estate agent and her employer can be sued for allegedly misleading the buyers of a monastery-turned-mansion that contained arsenic.
District Court Judge Dea Lindsey ruled Jan. 23 that Compass agent Eva Marie can be sued for negligence — and that her boss and employer can be held vicariously liable for her actions — because there is at least some evidence she did not disclose what she knew about the home’s water.
“The complaint plausibly alleges Ms. Marie had knowledge of an adverse, material fact which she failed to disclose to plaintiffs, causing their damages by helping to induce their purchase of the property and unmitigated exposure to its contaminated water,” Lindsey wrote.
Fifteen minutes northwest of downtown Boulder, at 500 Arroyo Chico Road, is a 27,000-square-foot mansion that was built by an eccentric inventor and entrepreneur to be an off-the-grid monastery. It includes a 30-car garage and 7,000-square-foot deck.
Its cistern and greenhouse appealed to Nicholas and Tatiana Becker, a health-conscious couple with two young children in search of rural living. Especially important to them was clean water — specifically, water free of chlorine. They had reason to believe the home was ideal.
For one, the founder of a water purification company built the monastery. Howard Selby III, who goes by Binx, created the word processor company NBI in a Boulder garage in the 1970s. Among his many other later companies was PureCycle, which makes purification systems. He now runs a nutrition clinic in Arizona with his wife, Linda Jade Fong.
But after the Beckers bought 500 Arroyo Chico Road for $2.5 million in September 2021, they started getting sick, according to a lawsuit they filed in September 2023. Water testing found “extremely dangerous levels of arsenic and unsafe levels of uranium,” they claim.
The house at 500 Arroyo Chico in Boulder has 7,000 square feet of deck space. (YouTube)
Selby and Fong say they did nothing wrong. The Beckers were given “unfettered access” to the property while inspecting it and then agreed to purchase it as is. Selby and Fong say they had no knowledge of unsafe water and never lied about the quality of the water.
In addition to Selby and Fong, the Beckers also sued Marie, her fellow Compass agent Brenda Eisenga, their supervisor James Keith, and Compass Colorado. They accuse Marie of standing by silently while Selby touted the home’s water and cited fake water test results.
“Had Marie disclosed that she and Compass had not seen documentation to support these claims, or that these claims were inconsistent with the documentation, the Beckers would have tested the water before purchase,” the couple alleged in last year’s lawsuit.
Compass and its agents asked Lindsey to dismiss them from the case in October.
“Glaringly absent from the complaint — and fatal to plaintiffs’ claim — is the allegation of a single fact suggesting that the Compass brokers had actual knowledge of the arsenic or uranium in the water,” their attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss.
Lindsey agreed to dismiss Eisenga, who had only performed a final walkthrough and done nothing to mislead the Beckers. But Marie, Keith and Compass can be sued.
A trial date has not yet been scheduled. The Beckers want a jury to decide the case.
Their lawyers are Eric Olson and Abigail Hinchcliff with the Denver firm Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff and Murray. They didn’t answer a request for comment.
Compass and its employees are represented by James Meseck, John Matthews and Jonathan Brummet from White & Steele, a Denver law firm. They declined to comment.
