hausdok Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Elizabethton, TN Donna Pearce will be auctioning off her house in a scenic portion of Lynn Valley this weekend and she is making sure the next buyers know more about the flaws in the house than she did when she bought it. Pearce is in a lawsuit with the former owners, Christopher and Amelia Muncey. She alleges they violated the Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act by saying there were no defects to the house from the intrusion of water and that a 2002 fire in the kitchen had been repaired ââ¬Åas new.â⬠Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 One must give some thought as to why the new owners are asking twice the damages from the inspector. Little story: I helped defend an inspector that freely admitted he had not seen a broken window during the inspection. All the glass had broken away and only the sash remained. He looked at the entire window, but never operated it, nor made any representation that he had done so. Judge ruled the inspector had exercised reasonable care and simply missed the missing glass. The buyers had no reasonable expectation to believe the inspector would see and report on everything and dismissed the action. In this case, I believe the inspector likely was not conditioned to report facts. Maybe just report his opinion. He may have thought his responsibility ended with owner's disclosure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted November 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Hi Les, Unless I'm mistaken, and Walter might be able to straighten me out on this, in Tennessee they can award treble damages if you're proven to have been negligent. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonOfSwamp Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Originally posted by hausdok Elizabethton, TN Donna Pearce will be auctioning off her house in a scenic portion of Lynn Valley this weekend and she is making sure the next buyers know more about the flaws in the house than she did when she bought it. Pearce is in a lawsuit with the former owners, Christopher and Amelia Muncey. She alleges they violated the Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act by saying there were no defects to the house from the intrusion of water and that a 2002 fire in the kitchen had been repaired ââ¬Åas new.â⬠Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Mike, yep they can ask for treble damages. I was thinking about culpability and why they thought the inspector should pay more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bain Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Originally posted by Les One must give some thought as to why the new owners are asking twice the damages from the inspector. Little story: I helped defend an inspector that freely admitted he had not seen a broken window during the inspection. All the glass had broken away and only the sash remained. He looked at the entire window, but never operated it, nor made any representation that he had done so. Judge ruled the inspector had exercised reasonable care and simply missed the missing glass. The buyers had no reasonable expectation to believe the inspector would see and report on everything and dismissed the action. In this case, I believe the inspector likely was not conditioned to report facts. Maybe just report his opinion. He may have thought his responsibility ended with owner's disclosure. Who sues over a broken window? Around here, the glass in a double-pane can be replaced for $150.00 or so depending on the size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted November 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 I'm thinking that this might have been one of those situations where an inspector didn't go into an attic and might have stood in the opening peering around with a flashlight. It's not hard to understand one's duty insofar as seeing burnt structural members goes; you just report it the way you'd expect any inspector working for you to report it to you so that you at least know about it. In the case of a fellow simply standing on a ladder in the hatchway, if you've got an L-shaped house and the damaged area is in the wing of the attic that's not visible from the hatch, you're not likely to see the damage. Then the issue becomes whether you could have/should have climbed up into the attic to see that wing that you can't see from the hatch. If the engineering firm demonstrates that he could have easily done that, because they did it, he might have a hard time avoiding culpability. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Taken as a breed, TN HIs aren't great explainers. . Deep sigh...Does that apply to Virginia inpectors also, or just this numb skull? This leads to an interesting thought, what are the ramifications of inspecting across state lines? I am about 45 minutes from PA, and I know that PA will accept my NY license, but NY would not aprove if it were the other way around. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 "The inspector (the new one) went through an access hole in the ceiling of a hallway closet and checked the attic, where he found eight attic trusses that had various degrees of damage from fire." The HI in trouble supposedly "did not provide an evaluation on the beams, saying they were ââ¬Ånot seen.â⬠Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Originally posted by Tom Raymond . . . This leads to an interesting thought, what are the ramifications of inspecting across state lines? . . . You can only do it if the house is more than 18 years old. - Jim in Oregon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Thanks Jim, but is that for my specific example or for any combination of states? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Another problem Mr. Spence has is that he is not shown on the state website to have a license in Tennessee. So, if he did perform an inspection without a license, then he will have to deal with the state after the lawsuit. The state will most likely wait for the civil action to end. I know of a NC inspector who was fined $2,000 for working in TN without a license. Similar situation, he was named in a lawsuit and Bingo! Not having a license in a licensed state will not help his case. The silly thing is that he was most likely told the home had a fire. This should be a BIG RED FLAG that you need to really look for covered up fire damage. Don't forget that lawsuits have multiple sides, views, opines and just about everything is exaggerated. Kind of like being married! [:-paperba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Originally posted by Tom Raymond Taken as a breed, TN HIs aren't great explainers. . Deep sigh...Does that apply to Virginia inpectors also, or just this numb skull? This leads to an interesting thought, what are the ramifications of inspecting across state lines? I am about 45 minutes from PA, and I know that PA will accept my NY license, but NY would not approve if it were the other way around. Tom Most of the states will offer reciprocity if a state has similar, equal or gratet requirements. The state will offer reciprocity on your license, they will not accept it. This means that you still have to apply, pay and obtain a license in every state that you work in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Originally posted by Scottpat The silly thing is that he was most likely told the home had a fire. This should be a BIG RED FLAG that you need to really look for covered up fire damage.[:-paperba Roger that! The second paragraph of the article states that the sellers had said that damage from a 2002 kitchen fire had been repaired "as new." I can't think of anyplace where burnt structural components are considered "as new." If they really did say that, logic dictates that the the buyer must have said something to the inspector, no? I dunno, I've never had a house where there'd been a fire and my client knew about it up front and didn't tell me about it the second I got out of my vehicle. I have found a number of them where there'd been fires and nobody had said anything, though. In about half of those, there was no way that the current homeowner couldn't have known about the fire. Don't know about most of the brethren, but when someone tells me there's been a fire I always seem to spend an inordinate amount of time snooping into all of the little nooks and crannies looking to ensure that the damage has been repaired. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Originally posted by Tom Raymond Thanks Jim, but is that for my specific example or for any combination of states? Tom Sorry, it was an attempt at low humor. - Jim in Oregon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Originally posted by Jim Katen Originally posted by Tom Raymond Thanks Jim, but is that for my specific example or for any combination of states? Tom Sorry, it was an attempt at low humor. - Jim in Oregon I thought it was funny! whadda I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob White Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Originally posted by Les Originally posted by Jim Katen Originally posted by Tom Raymond Thanks Jim, but is that for my specific example or for any combination of states? Tom Sorry, it was an attempt at low humor. - Jim in Oregon I thought it was funny! whadda I know. I liked it too. Low humor never goes over my head (whoosh!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msteger Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Originally posted by Tom Raymond Taken as a breed, TN HIs aren't great explainers. . Deep sigh...Does that apply to Virginia inpectors also, or just this numb skull? This leads to an interesting thought, what are the ramifications of inspecting across state lines? I am about 45 minutes from PA, and I know that PA will accept my NY license, but NY would not aprove if it were the other way around. Tom Since PA has no home inspector licensing (yet), as long as you 'claim' to fulfill Act 114 (which has no teeth for enforcement, by the way), you could operate in PA. If operating in a state that has licensing and you are no licensed to operate there (or your state has licensing and the other state won't recognize your license), I think you better either not operate in that other state, or you should get licensed there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.