Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Colorado
Breach of Contract
A property manager I hired to look after my home breached the contract I had with him by not running credit checks as promised.
The tenant destroyed the home, and left rent and numerous bills unpaid. It turns out the tenants credit was extremely poor. He claims he ran the check but obviously did not and cannot/will not provide proof.
I have an ethics violation scheduled with the Assoc. of Realtors already. I do have a considerable amount of evidence against him. I am confident he will be found in violation and the assoc actually agrees.
I discussed this with another attorney via email and he said I have an extremely strong case. I am also fairly confident the property manager is insured and he is very wealthy. I only say that because it will be in his best interest to admit his fault and pay what he owes.
What, if anything do I stand to recover? My total losses are approx $10,000 and an extreme amount of personal hardship as a result. If I would win the breach of contract case would I at least be awarded what I lost because of the tenant he put in my home?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Breach of Contract
Your contract claims are very weak. Basically you would have to prove causation between the failure to do a credit check (which you are pretty much just assuming) logically lead to $10,000 in damages. This, as a legal matter, is a very poor claim with weak causation.
Now, a more useful basis is that the agent breached fiduciary duties, was negligent and misrepresented matters, among others. These are more useful and could open the door to punitive damages (which, however, would require a rather exceptional showing of intent or malice).
The damage claims are above CO small claims limits so it must be pursued in CO county court or district court. If you actually want to prevail you need to contact a CO attorney versed in real estate law and they will need to review the contract and determine all applicable claims. Good luck.
Re: Breach of Contract
The answer to the question you ultimately ask, after a full factual introduction (thank you) is "probably."
Your potential suit seems pretty strong based on the information you set forth, which is (necessarily) only one side of the story. As it often turns out, these cases are not so one-sided, and the defendant has at least a semi-cogent defense.
In your case, my suggestion is to try to fit your claim into the Small Claims Court jurisdictional limits of $7,500 for an individual's claim or $5,000 for the claim of an entity such as a corporation or LLC. This may be less that your actual dollar loss, but unless you have an attorney fee clause and are sure you'll win, you may be better off (and it is faster) brining an action in small claims for $7,499.
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