For anyone following this thread, you probably already know this, but definitely follow Hobie’s advice and not what I have done.
My latest update will having you saying “I told you so”, but let me first share some new info I have on the original topic. How to alert buyers of existing issues — there are a few folks that will care without having the lien to cloud title. The buyers agent, the sellers agent, the buyer, the appraiser and the estimator. The challenge can be getting to them before the sale, but that is who will care. And, even though small claims minus a judgment will not cause any title issues, it can be an issue if that defendant tries to refinance or buy a new property. (Well, if they tell the truth about the suit or lie and get caught).
Ok, on to the cringeworthy update. My neighbor was at home last week, so I asked him over our shared fence if he could address the broken sewer. Same language as my notes — please and thank yous. The first night he responded with great frustration stating that his attorneys were handling the resolution of our issue and that I should have known that if I had been checking my email. I asked for more detail as I certainly had not received any communication like that and it seemed pretty surprising to me that this would be their role. He stormed off without giving me more info, so I wrote to his attorneys and described their client’s idea of their role and asked for them to clarify their roles. Not surprisingly, what my neighbor had shared was in conflict with their understanding. Two nights later, I noticed the neighbor was in his backyard again, so I asked if I could get some more info on his understanding of how his attorneys were going to resolve our issue for him. (I know this seems far fetched but he has communicated so little I thought perhaps he truly did completely misunderstand their role). He was uncooperative and started taking photos of me, so I did alert him that I would use video and then filmed our convo after that which was him telling me he did not want to talk to me over the the fence and me telling him I did not really want to either and to please tell me how and when would be convenient to meet to get this resolved. At this point, he mostly just started loudly whistling back at me.
The next day, I did write to his commanding officer as military neighbors have been suggesting that I do that for about a year.
I got a response from the commanding officer on Monday suggesting that he had been spoken with. I waited a few days to allow my neighbor to reach out to me. When he did not, I send him a message via the mediator to be sure he received it.
Tonight, I received what I would call a fraudulent or highly inaccurate TRO as parts of it seem to rise to the level of perjury. (Other parts of it are simply copies of my please and thank you notes which I would not dispute. I have sent a lot of please and thank you notes because I haven’t had a fully functional sewer line since early 2019). I should mention that the TRO was from a 3rd attorney presumably because his 1st and 2nd attorneys have probably caught on to his behavior.
I am fascinated that the cost of the latest communication is close to half the price of the fix of the sewer line and that he probably would not have had to pay for any of that fix if he had just promptly contacted his contractor and his insurance. And, that he would risk his career by lying like this. I get that it will be hard to prove his lying, but why take the risk?
