Home Depot ordered to pay $12 million to defunct Santa Fe company

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - The Home Depot has been ordered to pay nearly $12 million to a defunct Santa Fe, New Mexico, company that accused the home improvement store chain of violating oral contracts. <br> <br> Santa Fe Custom Shutters and Doors Incorporated -- known as Santa Fe Shutters -- was founded in 1995 and went out of business about one-and-a-half years after the Home Depot terminated its contract with the company in 2000. <br> <br> State District Judge Carol Vigil says the Atlanta-based home-improvement chain was ``malicious, reckless, wanton, oppressive and fraudulent and not as a result of mistake but was a regular practice of Home Depot.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Vigil ordered Thursday that Home Depot nearly $12 million. <br> <br> A Home Depot corporate spokeswoman says her company never comments on litigation.