Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If you have filed a lawsuit and have an attorney, your question(s) should be directed to your attorney. If you do not have an attorney, it depends, and you would be well advised to seek the services of an attorney in your area who will be able to look at all of your documents and provide an educated response.

I agree with Mr. Hoffman as far as he goes. I believe there is more to add:

A buyer generally has a very good shot at obtaining "specific performance" as a remedy against a seller who refuses to close a contract of sale with no remaining preconditions. Perhaps needless to say, such a lawsuit must be carefully drafted and contain all the right pleadings of fact and should attach a copy of the contract sued upon.

If the seller has disappeared, obtaining a legally-valid service of process will be difficult, probably requiring service by publication after a motion and court order permitting the same. I advise NOT trying to handle such a service of process as a self-represented plaintiff.

Finally, as to the damage that occurred to the kitchen, I have two comments: (1) You may want to determine whether the loss is covered by insurance, and inquire of the agent whether the seller or you as buyer are entitled to the proceeds; and (2) look up Civil Code section 1662, the California adaptation of the Uniform Vendor and Purchaser Risk Act.

People can always back out, or breach their contracts. Whether they get sued is a different question, determined by all the facts and 'justifications', the applicable law, the terms of the contract, etc. Since you have already file suit, presumably for specific performance, you'll get the answer through that litigation, or by settlement among the parties. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I've done RE law for many years.