Archive for the ‘breach of fiduciary duty’ Category

Every year the Chamber of Commerce collects what it considers the most ridiculous lawsuits of the year.  At first,  they seem funny but they are costing our economy Billions each year.

I saw a recent interview with a CEO of a major company who stated that he spends up to 20% of this time,  working on defending litigation.  So,  instead of running the company,  they are wasting 1/5th of their time on lawsuits….not to speak of the legal costs involved.

How ridiculous…..and scary. This affects you in another way.  In my capacity as an expert witness, I have seem my share of crazy cases and you are always the target with a claim of negligence or fraud.

What I think is most puzzling is not that some people get crazy ideas that someone one else is to blame for their dysfunctional lives but that an lawyer actually takes the case.  Think they are doing it for free?  I doubt it.  But,  even if  they find a lawyer to take their case,  why doesn’t a judge simply throw out the case and sanction the attorney for malicious prosecution ?  Oh,  I forgot.  Judges are attorney also. And,   judges never  want to be embarrassed if they throw out a case and are later overturned on Appeal.   Never good for their career opportunities.

No matter what the reason,  this should be unacceptable.  So,  when you hear people discussing LEGAL REFORM,  it is not only trying to limit settlements on medical cases.

Click here to link to the full article.

If you are one of these agents who had signs or A Frames printed offering your services as a Foreclosure Consultant,  you need to be careful.

The sign may say …..stop foreclosure…or save your house or help with loan modification ….or something similar.  I have seen several and my opinion after having served in more than 300 cases against real estate agents as a real estate expert witness, too often they are illegal.   Remember,  DRE wants to make sure all these advertisements let the public know you are an agent. I saw an A-Frame  recently and there were lots of violations.

• Didn’t identify Brokerage company
• Didn’t identify the agent as an agent
• Didn’t have DRE #

This also applies to those signs we see that say ….we buy houses. If the person putting out these signs is an agent, they have to identify themselves.  If you are doing any of these things,  don’t take the risk of a Board Grievance or a DRE complaint.   It is not worth it.

One of the things I see quite often in my litigation work as an expert witness is agents failing to check what the city file shows.  This is not the same as the permit search but records that the city might have on the property.  It is not as critical on residential sales but especially important on income property.

The reason is that once a property become a rental,  it becomes a business. Once it is a business the city has more jurisdiction over it than they do residential property.   For example,  they would have records showing if the property had any violations.  Remember apartment house has all kinds of rules including fire extinguishers,  specific handrails on stairs,  parking restrictions,  lighted exit signs,  Americans Disability Act (ADA),  limitation on outside signs and banners and many more. Failing to disclose this information to a potential buyer can lead to a serious lawsuit.  So,  if you are the listing agent,  get the file.  If you are a buyer’s agent,  ask for the file.

This is very different from going down to the city and finding out if there were permits on the new kitchen.  In this case,  you simply ask to see the file or better yet,  have a copy made.  Note that there might be a per page charge.

More next time ………