{"id":2955,"date":"2008-04-12T18:54:03","date_gmt":"2008-04-13T01:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2955"},"modified":"2008-04-12T18:58:56","modified_gmt":"2008-04-13T01:58:56","slug":"there-is-no-joy-in-law-school-marty-ummel-has-struck-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2955\/there-is-no-joy-in-law-school-marty-ummel-has-struck-out\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Joy In Law School; Marty Ummel Has Struck Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember Marty Ummell? She’s the lady that sued Mike Little, a REALTOR with RE\/MAX in Carlsbad, CA. Her attorney ripped a page from the ambulance<\/strike> attorney play book and accused Mr. Little of misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary responsibility, and fraud.<\/p>\n

From the New York Times, back in January<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Ms. Ummel claims that the agent hid the information that similar homes in the neighborhood were selling for less because he feared she would back out and he would lose his $30,000 commission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Real estate lawyers and brokers say the case, which goes to trial in the north county division of San Diego Superior Court on Monday, is likely to be the first of many in which regretful or resentful buyers seek redress from the agents who found them a home and arranged its purchase.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I poked a bit of fun at this frivolous law suit, with my satirical post<\/a>. In the comment thread, I had learned more about the plaintiff:<\/p>\n

FWIW, the Ummels put down $900,000 on this home and borrowed $300,000. I\u2019m guessing they didn\u2019t need a full appraisal (1004) but had a drive-by w\/o interior inspection (2075); that report requires no valuation but proof that the property is standing. Pure conjecture on my part.<\/em><\/p>\n

I would think that a couple that has owned property(ies) in the Bay Area, for an extended period of time, who has $900,000 to invest in a home, and holds in a family trust, is sophisticated enough to forfeit the \u201cignorance\u201d defense.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the accusation was extremely watered down by the time it went in front of a jury, last week. Fraud and misrespresentation were thrown out and only the charge of “breach of fiduciary duty” stood. The jury ate lunch, did a quick crossword puzzle, and ruled for the defendant<\/a> (within 2 hours).<\/p>\n

Marty Ummel is “devastated” while Mike Little is essentially out of business. From the same Voice of San Diego article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Ummels contended their agent had misrepresented a reasonable value to pay for their house and had breached his fiduciary duty to them, acting to protect his commission instead of Read more<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember Marty Ummell? She’s the lady that sued Mike Little, a REALTOR with RE\/MAX in Carlsbad, CA. Her attorney ripped a page from the ambulance attorney play book and accused Mr. Little of misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary responsibility, and fraud. From the New York Times, back in January: Ms. Ummel claims that the agent hid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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":[26,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-lending","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2214,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2214\/stifle-those-yawns-cyberhomes-is-coming-out-of-beta\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":0},"title":"Stifle those yawns: CyberHomes is coming out of beta","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: Is there room in the Realty.bot business for a third major player? A: What business? Joel Burslem came to Phoenix last week, and I had a chance to spend a few hours with him before he flew back to Portland. Because I live and breathe real estate and because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16296,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16296\/can-bernanke-keep-mortgage-rates-this-low-into-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":1},"title":"Can Bernanke Keep Mortgage Rates This Low Into 2015?","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a vocal critic of Ben Bernanke.\u00a0 I thought his Quantitative Easing schemes would eventually create a bubble in the Treasury and mortgage-bond markets.\u00a0 Bernanke has committed to keeping rates low for another 18-24 months. I was wrong.\u00a0 I violated the first rule of market prognostication (from the late\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12842,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12842\/joe-ferrara-real-estate-attorney-founder-of-sellsius-real-estate-passes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":2},"title":"Joe Ferrara, Real Estate Attorney & Founder of Sellsius Real Estate Passes","author":"Brian Brady","date":"August 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Joe Ferrara, Manhattan real estate attorney and founder of Sellsius Real Estate, passed away from an aggressive brain tumor yesterday.\u00a0 Joe, often credited as one of the pioneers of the online real estate community, explained and lampooned our industry from his home site.\u00a0 A ubiquitous presence, Joe offered advice to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7914,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7914\/the-two-dirtiest-words-in-english-are-tax-and-attorney-but-new-contributor-phil-hodgen-is-both\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":3},"title":"The two dirtiest words in English are “tax” and “attorney” — but new contributor Phil Hodgen is both…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Phil Hodgen has been a friend of BloodhoundBlog for a long time. He's an international tax attorney working out of Pasadena, so why would he be reading the dawgs? Marketing and iconoclasm, the only two things we actually understand. At Chris Johnson's suggestion, he joins us today. Here's his bio:Phil\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":730,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/730\/ask-the-broker\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":4},"title":"Ask The Broker: What if my lender won’t underwrite a land lease?","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"December 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a buyer in a real estate transaction for a condo in California. I have been in escrow for the past 45 days but have been unable to obtain a loan due to the fact that the condo is on leased land which is due to expire in close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2905,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2905\/ask-the-broker-what-relationships-must-be-disclosed-in-a-real-estate-transaction-and-what-are-the-consequences-if-they-arent\/","url_meta":{"origin":2955,"position":5},"title":"Ask the Broker: What relationships must be disclosed in a real estate transaction, and what are the consequences if they aren’t?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We haven't done one of these in a while. We get a lot of really good questions, but, for most of them, the answer is the same: \"You need to talk to a really good real estate attorney in your jurisdiction.\" This one is different, with a couple of interesting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}