Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Can I sue my Real Estate Broker?

Well, I somewhat agree with Mr. Stone, but I wouldn't say you have no hope at all for a successful lawsuit. You will have the following problems:

1. Paying a lawyer (although with favorable answers to #2 below, you may find someone to take the case of a contingency basis).

2. Proof of your allegations of fraud and unethical conduct by the broker. Brokers (and their insurance companies' lawyers) are very good at denying wrongdoing, and unless you have a smoking gun or two, it will be hard to make a convincing case for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unethical conduct, or whatever, sufficient to convince a lawyer to take the case at a reduced or contingent fee, to say nothing of convincing a judge or jury that you are not the culpable party.

3. Statute of limitations problems. Without more information, I can't say how many statutes of limitations have run out, if any. Often in cases like this there will be both a three-year and a four year limit as to certain causes of action. In any case, you should try to find a local attorney to give you a free initial consultation as soon as possible.

Re: Can I sue my Real Estate Broker?

Oh, please. Your mama didn't teach you not to tell lies? You didn't know when you told these lies to get your mortgage that you were defrauding the lender? You didn't drop this real estate broker like a hot potato the first time she asked you to lie? And you just now discovered that you can't pay the mortgage that you lied to get? It didn't register in your brain that if you had told the truth, you wouldn't have gotten the mortgage because you can't afford it? And now (drum roll) you want to sue this broker for forcing you into telling all these lies? What chutzpah. You would be laughed out of court.

Re: Can I sue my Real Estate Broker?

I have to agree with Attorney Whipple, however, not the tone of his answer to you. Yes, you have a real problem because there is no way on earth you can go into a court of law, and without lying, tell a judge that you had no idea that what the broker asked you to do was improper, illegal, unethical, etc... As such, you are more of a conspirator than a victim. You are young, and should consider the potential that you need to file bankruptcy and start over clean. I don't know any attorneys who will take a case like this on contingency fee, because the liklihood of success is low, so you would have to come up with $15,000 minimum as a retainer to most attorneys to file suit. I would suggest that it is very possible that doing so would just be throwing good money after bad at this problem. Not the least of your problems is that this real estate broker is probably (if like most who have experienced the monsterous drop in clients, closings and income) broke and not a good subject of a lawsuit.

Do yourself a favor, and interview a few attorneys. Call a few plaintiff's attorneys who specialize in consumer law - see if they have any interest in your case. If not, call some bankruptcy attorneys to get you out of this mess.

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