Well, we all knew it was inevitable. As Buyer's Agency becomes more mainstream, our liability to the transaction increases and we begin to take on an even more important role to our clients. Maybe those of us who have acted as Buyer's Agents have been taking the role for granted by not truly comprehending how heavily our clients rely on us for correct information. Of course we could do all the due diligence in the world, but it will never save us from a crafy lawyer looking to sue.

While some of you have no doubt read about the California case where a buyer is suing the Buyer's Agent for misrepresenting the true value of the property (amound other things like deceptive practices), you should know that this is not the only case going against a buyer's agent. I have reported in the past about another Montana case where dual agency was involved and the buyers won, and I am sure there are more out there we don't know about.

Yesterday I was reading around in the outer blog world and a consumer brought up a good point on Teresa Boardman's blog. The comment was how today we are seeing consumers living in a false world of safety:

"The ever-increasing levels of consumer protection has created a generation of consumers that think that they are not in the slightest responsible for becoming educated."

I cannot agree more. Everyday I hear people commenting on how so-and-so didn't do this, or so-and-so didn't disclose that. The next sentences hold words like, "lawsuit" or "government intervention". I shake my head and think how sad it is that our society no longer takes responsibility for its actions. Now a days, there always has to be someone else to blame. In real estate, I am seeing this more and more.

Take for instance a recent lawsuit (Login Required) out of North Carolina. The MLS incorrectly stated that a home purchased by a buyer was on sewer, when in fact it was on a septic system. As most of us know, the words "Information Deemed Reliable but Not Guaranteed" are on the bottom of most sheets. But when the Buyer's Agent printed out the MLS sheet with his information on the form, those legal words did not appear. So when the buyers front lawn turned into a raw sewage mess, they naturally turned to the buyer's agent for answers.

Now, it is hard to believe someone doesn't know the difference from sewer to septic. What's even more amazing is that the home inspector commented on his report that the sewer system was in working order. But mistakes do happen, that's why they are called mistakes. However, in today's society, instead of just moving on, everyone has to sue. These buyers claimed "negligent misrepresentation", but I highly doubt the brokerage intended on misleading the new home owner. While the Jury found in favor of the buyers, the Appeals court reversed their decision and found in favor of the brokerage.

The scary part about all of this, is that we, the salesperson, are always guilty before innocent. We are the wolf and the consumer is the sheep. Juries automatically sympathize with the consumer because they feel the consumer has no responsibility to educate themselves. We are the "experts" and are thus infallible. So when we do make a mistake, we pay with for it, literally.

Everything we do in good faith, including Dotting our I's and Crossing our T's, may not save us when it comes to an unhappy client. With the lack of responsibility for ones actions, as seen throughout our society, we all need to be aware of the ramifications that we could face for omitting a detail, incorrect statements, or price opinions on a property. Sadly, this is the direction our industry is heading, and the only thing we can do as real estate agents, is to strive to work each transaction with the most honesty and integrity that we can muster. In no way do I think we should let the threat of a lawsuit scare us into so much detail and disclosure that we need to let future buyers know that little Johnny set fire to the living room rug ten years before, but it is important to realize that buyers and sellers have no problem suing, even when the fault lies with themselves.

What do you think?