VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A 75-year-old woman named Correan Reddin is now living with her grandchildren after her Volusia County home was left destroyed.
“It’s devastating. It’s very devastating to me, you know. I work all my life to have something, and I don’t have it anymore,” Reddin said.
It’s now an empty building with missing dry wall and rotting floorboards.
A man named Marlon Taylor, who owns a company called Stateline Contractors, was tasked to fix Reddin’s place after part of it was burned in a 2018 fire.
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Reddin and her attorney, Tyler Brown with Brown Law Firm, filed a lawsuit against Taylor in 2020, claiming the contractor made things worse.
“Absolute destruction, I mean, her house is destroyed,” Brown said.
Reddin said that in early 2019, she hired Taylor, and he assured her the home would be livable within 120 days.
She even purchased new appliances for her home.
“I bought a washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher,” Reddin said. “I got everything in storage.”
Now, she’s forced to pay storage fees as her new appliances sit unused.
“He received over $100,000 to do work to this property,” Brown said.
Reddin doesn’t believe Taylor used all the cash for repairs.
“He walked away with all my money, and my house wasn’t done,” Reddin said.
Reddin said Taylor disappeared.
She tried to contact Taylor several times, but he stopped taking her calls.
News 6 reporter Treasure Roberts also called Taylor, and the call went straight to voicemail.
His attorney, Wayne Alder with Fisher Broyles LLC., did answer Roberts’ phone call, though.
However, he quickly became agitated, refused to comment on the situation and hung up.
“This is by far the most egregious example I’ve seen of a contractor starting work and abandoning a project,” Brown said. “I just feel so bad for her.”
Reddin said she believes Taylor hired unhoused people to work on the house.
“I couldn’t believe he would do this,” Reddin said.
She was not the only person living in her house.
Reddin also ran an adult family care home there, assisting at least five people.
She said all she wants is her house back.
Another complaint was filed against Taylor in 2018, claiming he attacked two of his transient employees who were working on a house. That case was dismissed.
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