Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
We signed an agreement with a company that we gave 20k to purchase a property. This company is looking like a scam so we wanted out. We settled on 10k and signed another agreement for the refund. Agreement says money would be refunded within 10 days. It has now been more than an month. What would be our best course of action at this point? This company is starting to look like a ponzi scheme. I am actually in contact with about 60 others with various complaints against this company. Any advice as to a course of action would be great. Emails and calls to the company just get, yeah we're working on it responses.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Your best course of action is probably a law suit. At the least, you should meet with an attorney to discuss. If you can get multiple people to sue then you all can share in the legal fees and costs. Depending on the details, you may even be able to recover attorneys fees.
Get an attorney to write a letter to the company demanding your money in 1 week or you will file a lawsuit and report them the Department of Real Estate . Unfortunately if they really are a ponzi scheme then you had better sue them right away as there will probably be a line forming to collect on any judgment against them. You could file a class action but then your case would get bogged down with the rest and in a couple years or more you might even get some of your money back.
Good luck.
I agree with the other two answers, except I wouldn't even write a letter. If you can't get in and out of a ponzi scheme at the ground floor, getting first in line in litigation is the next best thing. Often the first few lawsuits are settled before the thing collapses. If you have 60 other people who may have been scammed and know it, the thing will be rubble soon. Think of it as a game of Jenga. You want to pull your pieces out first and let someone else topple it.
The trouble with filing a lawsuit is the risk-reward equation. Consider (a) the probable total cost of any proposed litigation (not just the retainer) with (b) your odds of getting a judgment (high) and (c) your odds of collecting the judgment (probably low).
Also. take a look at your written agreement with these folks to see what it says about (1)mandatory arbitration of disputes and (2) attorney fees.
If you discuss suit with a lawyer, also inquire whether the lawyer thinks this may develop into a class action, a "qui tam," or an attorney general action.
Also, I'd contact the California Department of Real Estate (www.dre.ca.gov) to see if they have a file on this outfit or can give you any assistance. The DRE is very active in trying to stamp out real-estate fraud.
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