Former Inspector Wins In 8 Year Court Battle

Local Inspection Issues Florida and SUNachi Inspectors
1

Hello all,

I wanted to let you all know that I finally won an eight year court battle from an inspection performed in 2005.

Some of you may remember my company, Gold Coast Inspection. I created and built this company, just like you all, out of nothing. Went to school, was certified and was a member of NACHI for years.

During the course of the summer of 2005, I conducted an inspection where there was serious damage to the roof system. These defects were cited on the report and was delivered to the buyer. Roughly 2 years after the inspection, I received a summons with a civil complaint attached.

The buyer closed on the property without adhering to the recommendations the property should be evaluated by a roofer and mold tested. The buyer closed and had to remediate the property costing over $60,000.

After 8 years of bull****, I finally had my day in court last week. Two days of trial in Palm Beach, expert witnesses, interrogatories… et al. I got the Final Judgment yesterday and I was victorious.

The reason for the post… be careful. Even with air-tight inspection agreements, anyone can sue anyone for anything in Florida. And, these types of cases make it through the test of a Motion to Dismiss. The burden of proof falls on the shoulders of the Plaintiff, but there is a minimal bar to get a complaint past the dismissal stage.

What this means, E & O only covers so much. And when the premiss for the case in fraudulent inducement and misrepresentation, there is not much or an E & O carrier to look at. Why? Because the allegation is not performance related. Rather, the case was based on individual action and not whether there was a mistake on the report or its findings.

What happened to my company and I? Well, this particular case involved Coldwell Banker RE… my biggest client at the time. I had (3) offices and the bulk of their volume agents used me specifically. Immediately following the filing, I was banned from the offices. Marketing materials removed, no vendor invites and no return calls when trying to address it. I don’t blame them, as it is a clear conflict of interest in maintaining the relationship. But, my point is that one thing like this can ruin your business. Coldwell Banker respresented roughly 65% of my business… then the valve was turned off.

This litigation cost me my company, drove me in to debt, ruined my credit profile and my home is being auctioned July 11,2013.

I remember when I first posted about this in 2008, while I was an active NACHI member, and there were responses posted implying that I must have done something wrong or was at fault.

I am here to tell you all, it doesn’t matter. You can be the best at what you do to have it all take away. Why, because you can sue a ham sandwich in this state. It cost me over $25,000 to defend this case plus my way of life. All because a fellow consumer thought they had been done wrong.

My point, dot your i’s, cross your t’s, fully report and attend as many education opportunities as possible. Because you don’t have to screw up to loose it all.

For my future, I was licensed as a real estate agent in 2011, doing fantastic, was awarded into the President’s Club and I don’t miss climbing through attics in Miami in August.

I hope all is well within my former inspection community and keep your heads under the radar and I sincerely with you all great success.

2

Wow what a shame to hear, glad you won. Couple questions,

Are you going to start inspecting again?

Was it the bank that sued you or the individual? Not quite following how the bank was involved…?

Can you go into more detail about fraudulent inducement/misrepresentation and why the judge/courts decided to take it on rather than throw the case out?

3

Thanks for the update, David.

Your message will fall on many deaf ears here, as you know. Inspectors with 90-day warranties, a pocket full of other gimmicks and 16 page contracts will argue that what happened to you could never happen to them.

Best of luck to you in the future.

4

Thanks David very much appreciated .
Having first hand knowledge with a very similar case I can understand what you went through.
You have done our NACHI members a great big favour with your post .
I hope all read and see what can happen so easy All the best … Roy

5

Glad to hear you won and even happier to hear you got out of the attics. I cannot wait :slight_smile:

6

Thank you for the post. Congratulations on being vindicated. Is there any means for you to recover your losses in FL? Texas has a loser pays law which hopefully helps weed out this kind of abusive lawsuit.

7

Thanks for the info!

Can we see the portion of the report about the roof?

I understand the overall post and believe the exact report verbiage might not have mattered in this case but…

I think I have said before to those that just recommend evaluations…

You should flat out report that the roof needs replacing along with any other issues that need investigating! Don’t skip over the replacement call when it needs it! :slight_smile:

8

Glad to hear you were ultimately vindicated. I sincerely hope you are pursuing the individuals who sued you.

9

@ Kevin. No more inspections. After 4,000 pre-purchase inspections and 1,500 wind mits… I am done. And, not a bank… Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. and it was the buyer that was the Plaintiff.

@ James. It doesn’t matter how many pages are within your inspection agreement or verbage… Plaintiff’s typically do not include it in the Complaint. It is typically introduced as a Defendent exhibit prior to trial. In Florida, you cannot bring anything in to record if it was not included in the original complaint.

@ Chuck. I now have the opportunity to file a breach suit

With regards to the roof portion of the report, it was pretty clear w/ color images inserted in the report. The damage was extensive, bordering on full replacement. Because it was a complex roof design, it was hard to identify whether a full replacement was necessary. But, notes of extensive damage, loose/detached tiles, moisture intrusion and wood rot were noted on the report AND on the WDO.

This was a situation of the horse not drinking the water and then trying to shoot the cowboy.

My point… be careful. People have lost their backside in the housing market and they are looking for anyone to recover losses from.

10

@ Kevin. No more inspections. After 4,000 pre-purchase inspections and 1,500 wind mits… I am done. And, not a bank… Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. and it was the buyer that was the Plaintiff.

@ James. It doesn’t matter how many pages are within your inspection agreement or verbage… Plaintiff’s typically do not include it in the Complaint. It is typically introduced as a Defendent exhibit prior to trial. In Florida, you cannot bring anything in to record if it was not included in the original complaint.

And that is why the pre-inspection agreement/contract is and always has been included in my inspection reports. When they submit the report as evidence, it must be the entire report, including the agreement/contract.

@ Chuck. I now have the opportunity to file a breach suit

Good luck.

With regards to the roof portion of the report, it was pretty clear w/ color images inserted in the report. The damage was extensive, bordering on full replacement. Because it was a complex roof design, it was hard to identify whether a full replacement was necessary. But, notes of extensive damage, loose/detached tiles, moisture intrusion and wood rot were noted on the report AND on the WDO.

If the roof is a “coin flip”, I was always taught to recommend replacement. If some do-gooder roofer wants to come along and patch it to save the deal for the Realtor, let him do it.

11

Yes, the system is broken. We need to start over, when someone can pay $150 file a law suit and make all those involved miserable for 1 yr min. This is not what this great country is about. Thousands of attorneys graduate each year and to get a pay check they must file a law suit…

12

It’s a broken system because the case of dismissal has nothing to do with how good of an attorney you have or they have, it has to do with how a judge interprets what is in front of him/her, and if he/she can’t comprehend it, then it goes through the trial stages, if not settled out beforehand. So basically if your judge gets the gist and the evidence shows and leads to a logical conclusion they can comprehend–more than likely dismissed. Otherwise, it’s a nightmare. It’s almost like the original hearing to allow or dismiss the allegations should be decided by a jury and not just a judge. What a nightmare David. Been fighting something even more ridiculous legally the past 2 years myself.

13

Glad to hear you were vindicated & doing well post this ordeal.
When life gave you lemons, you’ve made lemonade!
Best you the best & thank you for sharing.