Angry Texas Seller Sues Inspection Firm for $1M

[Speedy Petey]

I think this ambulance chaser is just trying to get some kind of settlement. It is obvious the inspector did nothing wrong.

Another typical bullshit law suit by a shyster lawyer.

Little wimp probably got made fun of in grade school so he is taking it out on everyone now.

[hmiller]

I really don't get some people. This sellers' home has obvious defects that are documented in the report with photos. These sellers must be in absolute denial. All the buyers wanted was $10K off of the purchase price in consideration of these defects. And this seller would rather take the home inspector to court? Unbelievable. These sellers need to face up to the reality that their 50 year old home may have a few deficiencies.

...Oh after reading more I realize that the Plaintiff is an attorney.....so it is not costing him anywhere near as much, to harrass this inspector with the legal system.

[Nolan Kienitz]

My wife was doing a websearch a while back when we first heard about this suit and she found that the plaintiff's wife (works for a local Houston area school district) has also filed a suit against her employer ... the school district. Dunno what for, but it fits.

I guess their job and way of making money is to file suit against everyone. I'm sure if enough of the suits stick they make some $$.

[hmiller]

They provide a great example for why there should be Tort Reform...

Or shall we just call it exTORTion reform?

[Nolan Kienitz]

At long last the Houston, TX lawsuit with a "seller" suing a home inspector is finally over.

It was termed a "take nothing judgment" ... meaning that there were no awards and that each party walked away. Albeit both sides still had their respective legal fees to pay/absorb.

You can imagine the pucker factor had this been found in favor of the seller and what the ultimate implication would have been for all of us inspectors. E&O would have gone to the moon unless they just canceled period. Thank goodness we don't have to go there for now anyway.

I was just reminded this Sunday AM that the motion is still waiting for "final signature" from the judge.

Download Attachment: FoxTakeNothingJudgement.pdf

311.65 KB

[hausdok]

Hi Nolan,

Thanks for keeping us up to speed. To tell you the truth, when you sent me the email about this settlement, it had been so long since I'd heard anything about it that I'd completely forgotten the specifics. Glad it worked out for the profession.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bain]

Well, but there was a settlement. That means the inspection company--in all likelihood--forked over some dough. Not having to present a case to an entitlement-mentality jury may be considered a victory, but it can oftentimes be a very HOLLOW victory. I imagine the defendants were quasi-judgment proof, the attorneys who were selling the house grew a little bored, and some cash amount was settled upon that was less than whatever attorney's fees would have been generated.

[Jim Reeves]

Hey Mike...

I got everything to open but the inspection report????

ooooops, did not wait long enough to let open....

Jerry

[rsharp2022]

I found this thread by searching for *** Inspection Group reviews...why? Because they conducted a ridiculous inspection on my beautiful 3 year old home that would have any buyer running for the hills. I have since had two separate inspections conducted to the home, both of which have come back with the exact opposite conclusion of what *** Inspection has found.

This thread is obviously for Inspectors to pat each other on the back and to "stand up for the profession"... but when is it time to take responsibility for flawed inspections that cost homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars? If you people didn't approach your job with a need to find something wrong in order to feel like you've done your job, then I wouldn't be on this thread. But the fact is that many inspectors think it is their duty to find flaws in properties vs. providing a potential buyer with a realistic assessment of a home that they are obviously interested in.

I am not a lawyer, I've never taken anyone to court before... but I am planning to file a civil suit against *** Inspection Group for filing a report with zero basis of truth or proof, which has been independently proven false twice.

When inspectors offer a discount for multiple inspections, they build in incentive for themselves to scare potential buyers off of 1st properties... it's poor business practice and it happens throughout your profession. I will win my case with a full thermography scan in hand that completely refutes the original inspection.

HDYLTA?

[Jim Katen]

I found this thread by searching for *** Inspection Group reviews...why? Because they conducted a ridiculous inspection on my beautiful 3 year old home that would have any buyer running for the hills. I have since had two separate inspections conducted to the home, both of which have come back with the exact opposite conclusion of what *** Inspection has found.

This thread is obviously for Inspectors to pat each other on the back and to "stand up for the profession"... but when is it time to take responsibility for flawed inspections that cost homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars? If you people didn't approach your job with a need to find something wrong in order to feel like you've done your job, then I wouldn't be on this thread. But the fact is that many inspectors think it is their duty to find flaws in properties vs. providing a potential buyer with a realistic assessment of a home that they are obviously interested in.

I am not a lawyer, I've never taken anyone to court before... but I am planning to file a civil suit against *** Inspection Group for filing a report with zero basis of truth or proof, which has been independently proven false twice.

When inspectors offer a discount for multiple inspections, they build in incentive for themselves to scare potential buyers off of 1st properties... it's poor business practice and it happens throughout your profession. I will win my case with a full thermography scan in hand that completely refutes the original inspection.

HDYLTA?

Come back and crow about it when you've won. In the meantime, all you're offering is hot air.

[kurt]

Big hat, no cattle.

[Marc]

I found this thread by searching for Fox Inspection Group reviews...why? Because they conducted a ridiculous inspection on my beautiful 3 year old home that would have any buyer running for the hills. I have since had two separate inspections conducted to the home, both of which have come back with the exact opposite conclusion of what Fox Inspection has found.

This thread is obviously for Inspectors to pat each other on the back and to "stand up for the profession"... but when is it time to take responsibility for flawed inspections that cost homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars? If you people didn't approach your job with a need to find something wrong in order to feel like you've done your job, then I wouldn't be on this thread. But the fact is that many inspectors think it is their duty to find flaws in properties vs. providing a potential buyer with a realistic assessment of a home that they are obviously interested in.

I am not a lawyer, I've never taken anyone to court before... but I am planning to file a civil suit against Fox Inspection Group for filing a report with zero basis of truth or proof, which has been independently proven false twice.

When inspectors offer a discount for multiple inspections, they build in incentive for themselves to scare potential buyers off of 1st properties... it's poor business practice and it happens throughout your profession. I will win my case with a full thermography scan in hand that completely refutes the original inspection.

HDYLTA?

Your post speaks of nothing but a lousy, negative attitude. That doesn't get you anywhere, regardless of profession.

Marc

[escanlan]

I found this thread by searching for Fox Inspection Group reviews...why? Because they conducted a ridiculous inspection on my beautiful 3 year old home that would have any buyer running for the hills. I have since had two separate inspections conducted to the home, both of which have come back with the exact opposite conclusion of what Fox Inspection has found.

This thread is obviously for Inspectors to pat each other on the back and to "stand up for the profession"... but when is it time to take responsibility for flawed inspections that cost homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars? If you people didn't approach your job with a need to find something wrong in order to feel like you've done your job, then I wouldn't be on this thread. But the fact is that many inspectors think it is their duty to find flaws in properties vs. providing a potential buyer with a realistic assessment of a home that they are obviously interested in.

I am not a lawyer, I've never taken anyone to court before... but I am planning to file a civil suit against Fox Inspection Group for filing a report with zero basis of truth or proof, which has been independently proven false twice.

When inspectors offer a discount for multiple inspections, they build in incentive for themselves to scare potential buyers off of 1st properties... it's poor business practice and it happens throughout your profession. I will win my case with a full thermography scan in hand that completely refutes the original inspection.

HDYLTA?

Hello rsharp2022,

If you can provide more detail regarding the incident it might help us better understand your situation. Also have you had the opportunity to review the Texas mandated Standards of Practice (SOP) which can be found here http://www.trec.texas.gov/inspector/rul ... ectors.asp . The SOP is not a very well written set of standards and even the littlest of issues can trigger the "Deficient" box to be marked in the report. We have so many small issues we are required to write-up that it is impossible to inspect any home, even new construction, without finding and triggering that "Deficient" box.

Out of curiosity how long was it between the Fox inspection and the other two "independent inspections"? Were these other two inspections commissioned by you or were they other potential buyer's inspections?

[sueblackburn]

Fox just did an inspection on my house. If you are a buyer you will love *** because they add and fabricate things in the report that are just not true. In my report they have scared the buyers to death saying they may need foundation repairs. An engineer says otherwise. Forgot about The Institute of Post Tensioning guidelines for gumbo soil. They through those out the window. Actually I even doubt if they have ever read them. They took a picture of a chip in the concrete that was made when the slab had to be broken for a new toilet. A simple movement of the soil 2 inches out shows it is a chip that just pops out and not a crack. The slab has no cracks behind, above or below the chip but the picture makes it look like a crack. Although their contract says they have nothing to do with building codes the inspector actually quoted the code and said there was no fan in the master bathroom and no window to open and that was against code. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY A BRAND NEW UP TO CODE FAN IN THIS BATHROOM. How did he miss it? It is loud as hell and you see in the photo he has the fan on because it is attached to the light switch and the light is on in the picture. He said they needed a whole new bathtub because a faucet handle is loose. It needs a new faucet but not a new bathtub. He has a picture on a new modern faucet showing a thumbs down because there is no mechanism to open and close the sink drain. This is a popup drain. All you have to do is push it up and down and it seals the drain. NO MECHANISM NEEDED! Says the house still has some galvanized pipe and that is a bad bad thing. Duh it was built in 1974. Most of the pipe was changed due remodeling but some galvanized remains. So if you buy a house that has galvanized pipe is the seller supposed to change all the piping in the house? The list goes on. I am having to pay other professionals to disprove his statements. Says the roof is improperly ventilated. He forgot the code on this one. The roof is 3 months old and the ventilation is up to code. He put up a lot of red flags that scared the young naive buyers. Some things were absolutely correct in his report and need to be repaired, I agree on those. My contract says the house is being sold as is but he put in so many bogus repairs and problems they want me to come down $10,000 on the price. I have another buyer willing to buy the house. I feel sorry for the first buyers because they really wanted this house but I am not coming down on the price for repairs that do not need to be done and problems that don't exist. Just saying my piece here. They charged them $800 for the inspection when most inspectors here charge at the most $400. So if you are buyer absolutely hire this inspector because their report can get an unsuspecting seller to lower the price for their clients. If you are a seller and find out they are coming to your house. Tell them no thank you.

[Marc]

*** just did an inspection on my house. If you are a buyer you will love *** because they add and fabricate things in the report that are just not true.

I don't agree. I've never known any inspectors to operate that way. Buyers do want to know what's truly wrong with the house. I think you're just angry, frustrated and angry, and that's understandable.

In my report they have scared the buyers to death saying they may need foundation repairs.

Not on purpose, out of ignorance maybe. Lots of inspectors don't read houses well.

An engineer says otherwise. Forgot about The Institute of Post Tensioning guidelines for gumbo soil. They through those out the window.

I doubt. No inspector would ignore something they know and can back up.

Actually I even doubt if they have ever read them.

That may very well be true. There's an enormous amount of info out there on an enormous number of related topics. No inspector has read everything.

They took a picture of a chip in the concrete that was made when the slab had to be broken for a new toilet. A simple movement of the soil 2 inches out shows it is a chip that just pops out and not a crack. The slab has no cracks behind, above or below the chip but the picture makes it look like a crack.

I don't follow what you're getting at.

Although their contract says they have nothing to do with building codes the inspector actually quoted the code and said there was no fan in the master bathroom and no window to open and that was against code.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY A BRAND NEW UP TO CODE FAN IN THIS BATHROOM.

How do you know that?

How did he miss it? It is loud as hell and you see in the photo he has the fan on because it is attached to the light switch and the light is on in the picture.

He said they needed a whole new bathtub because a faucet handle is loose.

Oh, come now!

It needs a new faucet but not a new bathtub. He has a picture on a new modern faucet showing a thumbs down because there is no mechanism to open and close the sink drain. This is a popup drain. All you have to do is push it up and down and it seals the drain. NO MECHANISM NEEDED! Says the house still has some galvanized pipe and that is a bad bad thing. Duh it was built in 1974. Most of the pipe was changed due remodeling but some galvanized remains. So if you buy a house that has galvanized pipe is the seller supposed to change all the piping in the house? The list goes on. I am having to pay other professionals to disprove his statements. Says the roof is improperly ventilated. He forgot the code on this one. The roof is 3 months old and the ventilation is up to code. He put up a lot of red flags that scared the young naive buyers. Some things were absolutely correct in his report and need to be repaired, I agree on those. My contract says the house is being sold as is but he put in so many bogus repairs and problems they want me to come down $10,000 on the price. I have another buyer willing to buy the house. I feel sorry for the first buyers because they really wanted this house but I am not coming down on the price for repairs that do not need to be done and problems that don't exist.

Just saying my piece here.

That's perfectly fine. Some folks will rant here.

They charged them $800 for the inspection when most inspectors here charge at the most $400.

He can charge whatever he wants. Like with any retail service business, caveat emptor.

So if you are buyer absolutely hire this inspector because their report can get an unsuspecting seller to lower the price for their clients.

Bad advice.

If you are a seller and find out they are coming to your house. Tell them no thank you.

Lots of lousy inspectors in this business but some are actually very good at what they do.

Marc

[kurt]

OK, now we've had some axe grinding and everyone's happy. Let's stop now.

[Steven Hockstein]

Sometimes when I perform an inspection the seller gets annoyed that I found so many problems. I am not surprised when I get a call a few weeks later asking me to inspect the house they are purchasing.

Not uncommon for people to hope for a cursory inspection when selling their home and a very thorough inspection when purchasing one.