After parties spent over $400,000 in legal fees, and the Court awarded parties another $400,000 in judgments, perhaps the longest running real estate legal battle in Hilo Hawaii appears to be drawing to a close. Was this case about million dollar properties? Was it a huge developer fighting local action groups? Was it a complicated legal question, and any doubt of the ultimate outcome? No no and NO!
This was a single family home. Yet parties to the case fought on and on and on. I was the original Plaintiff. I tried to buy a home from a seller who didn't think it necessary to disclose a federal case against him. It was a case involving the DEA. Yes, I did win my case, but he had deep pockets and lawyers to fight his cause. In fact he launched a huge countersuit.
Describing all the various suits, fallout suits, appeals, and the army of attorneys involved would fill a book. A book you will hopefully never have to witness in person.
I learned a lot from this fight. I'm not offering anyone legal advise..just general truths I have come to learn. You know most already.
1.If you are going to press a case, you must be absolutely sure you are in the right.
2.Pressing a case opens Pandora's box. You may find yourself spending more time and money defending yourself against a counter suit than in prosecuting your original case.
3.The speed of justice is measured in years. Many years. You may be worn out, have empty pockets, or be in a pine box before you see one penny of any award the Court may grant you.
4.Make certain your adversary has deep pockets and can't hide assets by fleeing into bankruptcy.
5.If at all possible, you need to fight the case yourself. An attorney will drain more money faster then investing with Madolf.
6.If you utilize an attorney, make sure you do as much of the writing and research for each motion. Let them polish your script with the right words in the right order. I had a great summary judgment motion denied simply because I didn't know to include one key sentence in my affidavit. The judge wouldn't or couldn't tell me why he denied the motion since that would be offering legal advice.
7.If you get an offer to settle...seriously seriously think about it.
The final and strangest thing I learned, or at least I came away with that impression, is there no such thing getting a court to enforce a written contract to exchange real estate. You can't simply go to court and say
“My contract says the seller must do X, and he did Y, therefore clause Z in the contract applies.”
What you have to do is show exactly where the law commands them to do X, what law they broke when they failed to do X, and which law allows you to claim Z. Further you can only claim damages as allowed within the law.
During a trial Pandora's box can be opened up a second time if parties begin debating issues that were already settled in another case. This can lead to interesting consequences wherein large awards are made on issues you thought were settled. Overall the other factor to consider is what will litigation cost you in loss of income and personal time. The figures listed in the first sentence of this article may seem huge. However, after you divide them by the number of hours expended from initial complaint to this date, it really is quite small.
Oh...you might wonder. What was I willing to settle for early in this case $12,500.
Adding up all the legal fees, and judgments in the case reached $800,000.
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