Being maliciously sued by another member

[graniteguy]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I have been all over the internet and tried talking to the bishop but he didn't bother calling me back about this matter. Ok in a nutshell here it is. My dad and I were in the home building business together up until 5 years ago when the market crashed. My dad has been in the business over 20 years. We built nice homes, followed all rules from soils engineers, city, etc. just as required. One of the new subdivisions started having severe home settling after 5 years after the homes were built. We built about 14 homes in that subdivision and only one has a foundation problem. There are 18 other homes that I am aware of all having similar issues. It's due to excess ground water and poor drainage. Our client did his own landscape and drainage. Our client is a member of the church. The problem is not with our client, it's with his attorney. He's been knocking on all the doors in the neighborhoods and generating work for himself. He now has 18 lawsuits involving the builder, developer, and soil engineer on each and every one of these homes. He knows that the problem lies with the groundwater and would ultimately fall back on the soil engineer but he refuses to let anyone else go from the lawsuit. I work a full time job and my wife works a full time job and make well under 60,000 a year. As well as support 3 kids. My father is also working a full time job and making under 60,000 a year. He has spent over 60,000 of home equity money fighting this and I have spent 17,000 so far. The accusations from the attorney are malicious and complete lies. He has caused so much strain on my marriage and my home life and my dad who just lost his son, my brother 8 months ago is about ready to give up on life because of this. This attorney is chasing his golden goose and is the most corrupt, crooked, money hungry person I've ever come across. He is a high ranking lds member, even served as a bishop a few years ago. He's attacking several members of our church and it disgusts me that his unethical practices are being allowed. This attorney has come right out and said he will hold anyone in the case that he possibly can that has any money or assets.

My other problem is that if our church won't do something about this, I will feel totally betrayed. I know that there are plenty of dishonest people and crooks in our church and i accept that. I've always heard that "The church is perfect, the people are not" but that doesn't sit well with me. What do we need to do to get this guys membership put under the microscope? Neither my dad or myself have the funds to fight this and it's over something that we did absolutely no wrong doing in. With this attorney, it's not about right or wrong, it's only about money. Please help.

[Dravin]

He's attacking several members of our church and it disgusts me that his unethical practices are being allowed.

'Best' case scenario from your perspective is that he is reprimanded for his behavior but that will do squat for you concerning the lawsuit. In fact if he suspects you 'tattled' it could just make things nastier (if possible).

Neither my dad or myself have the funds to fight this and it's over something that we did absolutely no wrong doing in.

Legally speaking that is something that will be determined in a court of law.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Dravin

[Landy77]

I am not an expert, but generally the church does not get involved in civil matters. This is a dispute between you and a client. Just because you happen to be members of the same church is not much of a concern. You need to get a lawyer, that is all you can do. If you are a LLC company you can only be sued for your business assets. But you need a lawyer for certain.

[Wingnut]

The church has nothing to do with this -- either your membership or his. It's not personal, it's business.

(And for the record, being a bishop doesn't really count as "high ranking" in the church.)

[Guest DeborahC]

I'm so sorry this is happening to you and your family. It's just horrible what people will do for money. Having worked for law firms, I absolutely understand how you cannot afford to fight a malicious lawsuit like this. It's sort of like Monsanto putting farmers out of business by suing them... the courts are no longer interested in justice... the guy with the most money wins.

A friend of mine had a similar thing happen on a smaller scale. In the end, he called in the Builder's Board who basically told him, "The cute little blond is going to look fragile up against the big bad contractor if this goes to civil court, so you're best to pay her what she wants and have her sign a release, even though there's not a thing wrong with your work." This woman was a law student and had boasted that she knew how to get work done and not pay for it, he found out later...

In the end, if we are not tied to material things, we'll be better off.

Let them have it, and bless them... they'll need it on the other side...

It's just a sign of the times, and I can't think of anything I can say that will really help except to tell you how truly sorry I am to see this, and to see that nobody will stand up for you.

You're in my prayers.

[pam]

My other problem is that if our church won't do something about this, I will feel totally betrayed. I know that there are plenty of dishonest people and crooks in our church and i accept that. I've always heard that "The church is perfect, the people are not" but that doesn't sit well with me. What do we need to do to get this guys membership put under the microscope? Neither my dad or myself have the funds to fight this and it's over something that we did absolutely no wrong doing in. With this attorney, it's not about right or wrong, it's only about money. Please help.

Not sure why you think the Church should get involved with this. If he holds a temple recommend..remember he has to answer those questions for the recommend honestly. If he is not..that's between him and the Lord.

The Church won't get involved in something like this because as others have mentioned..it has nothing to do with your membership or his.

It's unfortunate that we do have some members who think about the bottom line more than they do about people..but again not something the Church would involve itself in.

[mrmarklin]

In any lawsuit the attorneys sue everyne who could conceivably have any money and was in any way involved in the problem. This has nothing to do with the church, the member whose home is involved or the member lawyer. It's all SOP.

If your father was a licensed contractor and very legit as you state he would have had insurance for just these sort of contingencies. Let the insurance company handle the lawsuit.

[gabelpa]

Something seems off about the OP, but I can't put my finger on it.. something doesn't sound legit.

[Just_A_Guy]

If you really think the attorney is acting unethically, you may want to look into filing a bar complaint.

But frankly, it smells to me like he's just being diligent.

If the hemorrhaging doesn't look like it's going to stop soon, I think it's time for you and your dad to start talking to a bankruptcy attorney. Whether you wind up filing or not, you should at least know what your rights are before you do something stupid (like raiding your retirement to pay legal fees).

[dazed-and-confused]

thanks for reminding me how much i loathe lawyers.......oops, thats not really fair......i just loathe law-prostitutes.

[dazed-and-confused]

okay....so i got frustrated by this post...it's an old story for me.

i want to apologize for my comment. we ALL have the good and the bad in us. most sorry HF, and i ask for Your forgiveness.

[graniteguy]

To answer a few questions. No, general liability insurance does not cover suspected soil or settling issues unless a separate policy was purchased. Also, right and wrong are not always decided correctly in a court of law. This has been proven over and over. I would not expect the church to do anything to affect the outcome of this case, however I do feel like this individual should not be able to hold the position of high priest leader. He is going after anyone and everyone he can to collect as much as possible. It's solicitation. The US is one of the few countries that allows contingency based lawsuit's for this exact reason. It's absolutely unethical the way it's being approached. If i drank beer on the weekends and my wife was a stripper, do you think we would still hold our recommends? As far as it being considered "tattling", I really don't care because it won't change his course of action either way. I know he will answer to God in the end and his actions will be judged harshly but that doesn't excuse what is happening today. I'm not bashing church in any way or form, those are absolutely not my feelings or intentions. I just posted this because he needs to be accountable today for what he is doing. In the early years, a church trial would have weeded him out. Brigham Young spoke so strongly about these type of people and D&C has quite a bit of info on this as well. Like I said, this will have no outcome on the legal side of things.