KB Home Target of Investigation in Florida, Hagens Berman Announces

MIAMI--(Business Wire)--
Hagens Berman, the law firm representing homeowners in class-action lawsuits in
Arizona and California against KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Countrywide Financial and
LandSafe Appraisal Services, is claiming the three conspired to illegally rig
home appraisals in KB developments and has begun investigating similar claims in
Florida.

The filed lawsuits contend KB Home (NYSE: KBH) conspired with Countrywide and
LandSafe to rig the appraisal process in order to drive development prices
upward and increase KB Home profits, often using inflated comparisons to justify
the high sales prices.

"Since we filed the Arizona and California actions, we have heard from KB
customers in other states saying they fell victim to similar practices," said
HBSS managing partner, Steve Berman. "Many of those calls came from KB home
purchasers in Florida."

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Arizona, claims
KB and the other defendants inflated home prices by as much as $280 million in
Arizona and Nevada, and another $300 million in California using the same
scheme.

As stated by published sources, KB Home has 76 communities in Florida.

According to the filed lawsuits, KB Home directed home purchasers to Countrywide
for financing and Countrywide funneled all its KB customers' home appraisals to
a small group of appraisers at LandSafe, an appraisal subsidiary owned by
Countrywide. According to the complaints, the appraisers would then deliver an
appraisal value at whatever price point KB and Countrywide ordered.

In two KB Home developments cited in the complaint, sampled appraisals were
inflated an average of $82,169 per property.

HBSS would like to hear from homeowners in Florida who purchased a house from KB
Home and financed through Countrywide. To learn more about the allegations in
the Arizona lawsuit, please visit www.hbsslaw.com/kbhomes. Homeowners can also
e-mail attorneys at kbhomes@hbsslaw.com or call 206-623-7292.

About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is based in Seattle with offices in Chicago, Boston,
Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and New York. Since the firm`s founding in
1993, it has developed a nationally recognized practice in class action and
complex litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a pending $300
million settlement as lead counsel in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation; a
$340 million recovery on behalf of Enron employees which is awaiting
distribution; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally inflated
charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co-counsel on the Visa/Mastercard
litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest anti-trust
settlement to date. HBSS also served as counsel in a $850 million settlement in
the Washington Public Power Supply litigation and represented Washington and 12
other states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in the
largest settlement in the history of litigation. For a complete listing of HBSS
cases, visit www.hbsslaw.com.

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
Steve Berman, 206-623-7292
Steve@hbsslaw.com
or
Firmani + Associates, Inc.
Mark Firmani, 206-443-9357
Mark@firmani.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009