It starts out as a lovely, sunny, holiday weekend in Southern California. Most of your tenants at the Palm Grove apartments are enjoying a day off, and having a barbecue in the parking lot.<\/p>\n
Missy from unit C goes back into her apartment to get a few more cold ones out of the frig, comes out her front door carrying the six pack, somehow trips on the step, falls and fractures her ankle. The other tenants call 911 and Missy is rushed to the hospital.<\/p>\n
As a responsible property owner, you will of course immediately report this to your insurance carrier, as soon as you learn of it. Your insurance carrier investigates, and offers Missy a settlement. But Missy’s no fool. She sees the physical injury attorneys that advertise on daytime TV. She rejects the amount offered by your insurance carrier, finds a PI attorney, and files suit.<\/p>\n
Being served can ruin your whole day. But as soon as your heart rate returns to normal, you turn the summons over to your insurance carrier. (Note to property owners: While there are lots of ways to cut costs, skimping on liability insurance is never a good place to do it). But even though your insurance carrier provides your defense, you must still participate in the process.<\/p>\n
And one of the first events in that process will be answering interrogatories, a formal set of written questions that one party in a lawsuit asks an opposing party. If you are new to litigation, the questions asked in the interrogatories will seem bizarre, obscure and strangely repetitive. You visualise the lawyers pouring over law books and carefully, meticulously crafting each question for maximum effect.<\/p>\n
For example: Every set of PI interrogatories I’ve ever seen has contained a question about Sweep Records. Sweep Records? The local supermarket keeps records of how often the parking lot is professionally swept. The owner of a small four-plex probably doesn’t.<\/p>\n
Here’s what you need to know: Those questions are canned. Attorneys have been seen in online law forums posting questions about where to obtain interrogatories for their particular case. Attorneys also purchase them on CD from <\/a>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It starts out as a lovely, sunny, holiday weekend in Southern California. Most of your tenants at the Palm Grove apartments are enjoying a day off, and having a barbecue in the parking lot. Missy from unit C goes back into her apartment to get a few more cold ones out of the frig, comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-investment","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2512,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2512\/tuition-is-expensive-at-the-school-of-hard-knocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":0},"title":"Tuition Is Expensive At The School Of Hard Knocks","author":"Doug Quance","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Another Episode Of \"It Doesn't Pay To Be A Cheap Bastard\" In times like these, real estate investors often search for the corners to be cut. While many of the corners should be cut - others should not. Such is the case of adequate insurance. Many sellers are having to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3107,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3107\/are-you-an-investor-looking-for-a-rental-home-that-will-stay-rented-buy-a-home-thats-worth-living-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":1},"title":"Are you an investor looking for a rental home that will stay rented? Buy a home that’s worth living in","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). I wrote this last Tuesday, but it coincides nicely with Barry's post this morning. \u00a0Are you an investor looking for a rental home that will stay rented? Buy a home that's worth living in I represented tenants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2602,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2602\/city-of-los-angeles-tenant-relocation-assistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":2},"title":"City of Los Angeles Tenant Relocation Assistance","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Rent Control took effect in the City of Los Angeles in 1979.\u00a0 In February, 1986,\u00a0provision for tenant relocation assistance was added by amendment.\u00a0 For the purpose of relocation assistance, the ordinance recognizes two categories of tenants:\u00a0 Eligible - which is basically everyone, and Qualified - which is any tenant with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7844,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7844\/with-san-franciscos-tenants-rights-the-way-they-are-its-always-a-tough-fight-but-still-peeking-back-through-the-looking-glass\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":3},"title":"With San Francisco’s tenants rights the way they are, it’s always a tough fight .. but still: Peeking back through the looking-glass","author":"Brad Coy","date":"April 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark's post as well as Sean's got me thinking. It's certainly not unusual these days to 'friend someone up' on a social platform such as Facebook these days and learn just a little bit more than you wanted to know, but how would you deal with the situation of finding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"eviction-letter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/eviction-letter.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3253,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3253\/investors-are-coming-back-to-the-phoenix-rental-home-market-and-with-the-right-business-plan-theyll-make-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":4},"title":"Investors are coming back to the Phoenix rental home market — and with the right business plan they’ll make money","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Investors are coming back to the Phoenix rental home market -- and with the right business plan they'll make money Rental home investors are coming back into the Phoenix real estate market, and this is a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1260\/ask-the-broker-asks-the-audience-how-best-to-invest-an-unexpected-windfall\/","url_meta":{"origin":2639,"position":5},"title":"Ask the Broker asks the audience: How best to invest an unexpected windfall","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Another question requiring expertise far beyond a broker's license. 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