a copy of the lawsuit<\/a> filed in Fresno County Superior Court on Aug. 18.<\/p>\nThe Poverello House paid Clevenger about $965,000 in an initial deposit, with the remaining money expected to be delivered later in the process, according to the service agreement. The nonprofit\u2019s lawsuit is aiming to claw back that money, and seeks other legal remedies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zachary Darrah, CEO of the Poverello House, deferred a request for comment to the nonprofit’s attorney in the case, Eric Grijalva.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Poverello House\u2019s lawsuit also alleges that Clevenger diverted some of the near $965,000 toward \u201cother projects, corporate expenses, debts or personal use.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what makes them believe Clevenger did this, Grijalva said the evidence was self-evident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don’t have the tiny homes,\u201d Grijalva said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The contract between the two parties included a second and third payment scheduled for PreFab Innovations, with the first expected to kick in after the construction of 13 homes, or when the contractor made it halfway through the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges they never got that far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny other use of the money other than building those homes, in my opinion, would be improper,\u201d Grijalva said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grijalva said the Poverello House\u2019s lawsuit \u201cwas not related to\u201d the story published by Fresnoland earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The status of any potential lawsuits involving the city and Poverello House remained unclear and neither side was willing to comment directly.<\/p>\n
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz on Wednesday declined to elaborate on how the Poverello House\u2019s lawsuit might affect the city\u2019s plans to file their own suit against the nonprofit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I can say is that Poverello still owes the City and taxpayers nearly two million dollars,” Janz told Fresnoland on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Clevenger did not respond to Fresnoland\u2019s request for comment on this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, following news of the city\u2019s lawsuit, Clevenger reached out to Fresnoland to offer \u201cthe true part of the story,\u201d before adding that the Poverello House is \u201cless than innocent\u201d in the case, and placed the blame for the project\u2019s failure back on the nonprofit.<\/p>\n
Clevenger did not follow through on his offer, instead sharing a statement after the story was published.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read the story,\u201d Clevenger\u2019s statement said. \u201cPreFab Innovations disputes the characterizations made. I\u2019d only say that the Poverello matter is much more complicated than a simple failure to deliver. There\u2019s a documented history, including a mediated agreement, that I believe tells a different story. PreFab Innovations remains committed to fulfilling its customer contracts, strengthening its service, and it will cooperate fully with any official review of its work. Because it involves confidential agreements and active proceedings, I\u2019m not able to get into specifics right now, but I expect the full record to come out in the proper forum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Poverello House\u2019s lawsuit is expected to initiate court proceedings in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The nonprofit\u2019s lawsuit follows a string of cases against Clevenger that allege similar acts of fraud and bad faith business practices from other organizations and private citizens across the Central Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed documents that could strip Clevenger of his contractor\u2019s permit to the state’s licensing board, following some of these complaints.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/08\/27\/fresnos-poverello-house-sues-clevenger\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fresnoland.org”>Fresnoland<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fresnoland.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cropped-Fresnoland_FacebookProfile.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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