Buyer Fraud Question

[Sue Tharp]

Just sold an office building in CA.  A few days after entering into escrow, the buyer (an attorney) requested a 7 week extension of escrow. A few days later, we were served with a meritless ADA lawsuit. (We suspect that the named Plaintiff, who sued a few businesses a month, was not aware his name was used in the suit). They demanded $12,000 right away or it would be much higher. Another few days later the buyer wanted to close escrow ASAP. We disclosed the lawsuit to our dual agency Realtor. The removal of the lawsuit was a condition of closing. After a few weeks of attempting to get the lawsuit dismissed, and the Realtor saying the buyer was asking us how the suit was going, we discovered that the plaintiff’s attorney worked at a law firm owned by the buyer. The suit was dismissed once our attorney confronted the buyer. The buyer said he saw no problem in suing us as he thought we would settle the suit by the date set for close of escrow. The buyer did buy the building, but we assume he will sue us for something, as he already threatened to come after us for not disclosing. Any ideas on how to prepare for this or discourage it? Also, he is nuts and a crappy attorney. Thanks for any ideas. 

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Sue Tharp:

Just sold an office building in CA.  A few days after entering into escrow, the buyer (an attorney) requested a 7 week extension of escrow. A few days later, we were served with a meritless ADA lawsuit. (We suspect that the named Plaintiff, who sued a few businesses a month, was not aware his name was used in the suit). They demanded $12,000 right away or it would be much higher. Another few days later the buyer wanted to close escrow ASAP. We disclosed the lawsuit to our dual agency Realtor. The removal of the lawsuit was a condition of closing. After a few weeks of attempting to get the lawsuit dismissed, and the Realtor saying the buyer was asking us how the suit was going, we discovered that the plaintiff’s attorney worked at a law firm owned by the buyer. The suit was dismissed once our attorney confronted the buyer. The buyer said he saw no problem in suing us as he thought we would settle the suit by the date set for close of escrow. The buyer did buy the building, but we assume he will sue us for something, as he already threatened to come after us for not disclosing. Any ideas on how to prepare for this or discourage it? Also, he is nuts and a crappy attorney. Thanks for any ideas.

 Contact the California BAR and file a complaint explaining just what you've stated.