New Suit Fridays 5-15-2009
There haven’t been very many interesting cases for this week’s New Suit Fridays here are the few we’ve pulled for you:
In Stone, DDS v. Franzia, MD a dentist has filed this complaint against a doctor who leased medical office space from the dentist. It’s alleged that after failing to pay rent and being served with a notice of default on this commercial lease, the doctor vacated the property and the dentist discovered broken windows, holes in the drywall, exposed wires along with missing molding. The dentist seeks damages for the failure to pay the rent, real estate taxes, utilities, failure to keep the property in good repair and the attorney’s fees. A copy of the lease is attached to the complaint along with the notice sent from the attorneys for the dentist.
In First American Title Insurance v. LaSalle Title Company, the complaint alleges that its agent failed to investigate a suspicious mortgage release before issuing a title commitment. This case will be of interest to any title company or its insurer. The allegation is that a release recorded on the property in 2005 for a mortgage recorded in 2003 should have been a red flag to the title searcher where there was no record of a refinancing. After a title policy was issued the previous lender moved to foreclose and confirmed that the release and property deed for the sale were forgeries and plaintiff ended up paying $288,000 in settlement damages to the lender. The counts are for professional negligence, and breach of contract seeking indemnity.
In Cuchetto v. Bilecki et al., a complaint alleges damages against an appraiser, a mortgage company, an attorney, and real estate agents involved in a real estate purchase for a civil conspiracy regarding representations made about the value and zoning classification of the property that the plaintiff purchased. Similar to the complaint above, this one is also alleging that the title company should have noticed inconsistencies in some of the documents that arguably should have alerted them to the alleged fraud. The complaint alleges fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, civil conspiracy and constructive trust.
