My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Yesterday. He is in the process of subdividing his lot and has discovered that he has no valid ingress/egress easement. So he has his attorney throw together an Easement and Joint Maintenance Agreement. He handed it to me on Friday, I gave him comments on on Sunday. He flips out and threatens to sue if I don't sign by Monday. Hmmm...why is he pushing so hard? I check out public records on his property and find that he has taken out a $460,000 loan and used two of his properties for collateral, and the loan matures in less than 6 months. My property may or may not need an easement, but I won't run into a problem with it until I want to sell. Moral to the story--you reap what you sow. This guy is a belligerant prick and I have no desire to make his life any easier. Bring on the lawsuit!

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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He flips out and threatens to sue if I don't sign by Monday.

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Yeah a lawsuit will make things run much faster.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

I would take the day off of work on monday and set up a lawn chair on your front lawn where he can see you with a nice lemonade. I would sit there all day and smile.

(Also have a taser gun ready for any altercations)

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

why don't you figure what this is worth to you ($'s) and make a deal with him?

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Don't screw around ... get an attorney to evaluate this ASAP.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Sell him the easement for a small fee.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

I don't understand what he would be suing you for. Perhaps I just don't understand property "stuff" well enough. But, how can you have any obligation to sign anything for him?

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Don't screw around ... get an attorney to evaluate this ASAP.

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Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Yesterday. He is in the process of subdividing his lot and has discovered that he has no valid ingress/egress easement. So he has his attorney throw together an Easement and Joint Maintenance Agreement. He handed it to me on Friday, I gave him comments on on Sunday. He flips out and threatens to sue if I don't sign by Monday. Hmmm...why is he pushing so hard? I check out public records on his property and find that he has taken out a $460,000 loan and used two of his properties for collateral, and the loan matures in less than 6 months. My property may or may not need an easement, but I won't run into a problem with it until I want to sell.

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I'm confused. Why would you need an easement? And on what grounds is he threatening to sue you? You don't have to agree to an easement if you dont want to. However, if he has been passing through your land for long enough without you protesting, an easement can become implied.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Depends on your state laws. In MA & RI, if the ingress has been used for over a certain amount of time without objection, that's "open and notorious use" and that creates an easment in and of itself.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

My non-attorney opinion is that the neighbor doesn't really have any legal ground to stand on. He is just freaking out that he didn't see this issue when he evaluated the project on the front end. Short term money is expensive and it will only cost him more to refinance and hold the note longer because this little snafu will take time to work out. Time is money.

The worst thing he could do is try to sue. It will take up more time and money for him.

My suggestion. Call your title insurance company and tell them that your neighbor is threatening to sue you. They have attorneys that will handle it for you for free.

The neighbor will likey offer you a settlement in the near future, but you don't ultimately have to accept it. If you wnat to yank his chain, tell him you'd rather see how it works out in court. Or tell him that the amount offered is unacceptable.

I liked the lemonade idea too. Good luck.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Depends on your state laws. In MA & RI, if the ingress has been used for over a certain amount of time without objection, that's "open and notorious use" and that creates an easment in and of itself.

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True: but, there are time limits required as well. However, your point is good ... there is a legitimate chance this guy can not only have a perpetual easment declared in his favor (without him having to pay you jack-[censored]) he may even have a claim for adverse possession which would give him the fee to that portion of the land.

Again, don't mess around, get an attorney.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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My suggestion. Call your title insurance company and tell them that your neighbor is threatening to sue you. They have attorneys that will handle it for you for free.



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I don't think you will get very far on a "hypothetical lawsuit." Its impractical (not to mention financially unsound) for the insurance company to set you up with an attorney every time a lawsuit is threatened.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Combine the advice of LALDAAS and Oski but have a shotgun instead of a tazer. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Combine the advice of LALDAAS and Oski but have a shotgun instead of a tazer. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Street justice is the most effective and cost-efficient. If you think the lemonade scenario will work, you might as well try it. Go ahead and set up some trip wires and claymores. When his legs get blown off, you can claim he was trespassing.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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if he has been passing through your land for long enough without you protesting, an easement can become implied.

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This is true. In addition, if he has been doing this for an extended period of time, I would assume he has a legitimate reason for doing so, in which case he may have a legitimate claim to an easment.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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My suggestion. Call your title insurance company and tell them that your neighbor is threatening to sue you. They have attorneys that will handle it for you for free.



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I don't think you will get very far on a "hypothetical lawsuit." Its impractical (not to mention financially unsound) for the insurance company to set you up with an attorney every time a lawsuit is threatened.

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This is the very reason that ripdog shouldn't spend his own dime to get an attorney either.

All I am saying is that if he has title insurance, he is covered. He shouldn't lose any sleep over this.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

It would work in Virginia don't know about CA. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Clearly the best possible outcome would be for this to be a long and protracted thing where you don't pay a dime because your insurance company pays for your lawyer, the guy loses his collateral properties, and you pick them up when they get auctioned off.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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He flips out and threatens to sue if I don't sign by Monday.

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Yeah a lawsuit will make things run much faster.

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I laughed at him when he said that and asked him if he really thought that that would help him get through this.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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I don't understand what he would be suing you for. Perhaps I just don't understand property "stuff" well enough. But, how can you have any obligation to sign anything for him?

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I have been talking with attorneys and real estate people all day today. It is mass confusion--have you ever read a property description? Holy [censored]! I have no obligation to sign anything. If I refuse to sign the agreement, he is screwed and would have to find another access for his new parcel or sue me for denying him access to his property. I am currently benefitting from the easement that he needs to get in on, so I have to agree to let him in on the deal--it's not enough for the owners of the property to give him access now. His lawsuit will go down in flames because he has another access available, but it will make his other lot much less desirable. So we are making him strike a section from the agreement that attempts to interpet the utilities easement accross my portion of the road to mean that he has ingress/egress rights (the recording number that is referenced is very vague). We want him to have to enter a maintenace agreement on that portion of the street because we don't use it (and have told him so). We have it fenced out, but it adds square footage to our parcel and we are right on the edge of being able to subdivide our lot, so it's not totally useless. We are also calling for the clarification of language regarding repair and maintenance of the condo owned portion of the street. The document read as though the condos were a single entity that only got one vote, but they have 15 or 16 untits. So I told him we wouldn't sign unless it was clear that our financial responsibilty was going to be 1/20, not 1/6. I spoke with his attorney today and he agreed to agree to remove the offending paragraph and re-word the other language. If it gets done, we'll sign.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Don't screw around ... get an attorney to evaluate this ASAP.
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His threat is laughable.
You can't sue someone for refusing to sign a legal document. Save the money and buy some beer.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Yesterday. He is in the process of subdividing his lot and has discovered that he has no valid ingress/egress easement. So he has his attorney throw together an Easement and Joint Maintenance Agreement. He handed it to me on Friday, I gave him comments on on Sunday. He flips out and threatens to sue if I don't sign by Monday. Hmmm...why is he pushing so hard? I check out public records on his property and find that he has taken out a $460,000 loan and used two of his properties for collateral, and the loan matures in less than 6 months. My property may or may not need an easement, but I won't run into a problem with it until I want to sell.

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I'm confused. Why would you need an easement? And on what grounds is he threatening to sue you? You don't have to agree to an easement if you dont want to. However, if he has been passing through your land for long enough without you protesting, an easement can become implied.

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I live on a private dead end street and own the back half of it, which is unpaved. A condominium owns the front half of the street, which is paved. My dickhead neighbor has run into a problem with his subdivide. The surveyor that was doing his short plat referenced a 1917 Quit Claim Deed as his easement, but retired in the middle of the job. The new guy looked up that reference and determined that it is not an easement. He won't stamp the short plat until this issue is taken care of. Now dickhead is trying to convince me that I have the same problem, but I don't. The easement for my access has been recorded twice, the first time was in 1978, so I am way past the statute of limitations here. I think the rest of this is explained in my response to Dynasty. I am (maybe) entering into an agreement with the condos for maintenance and repair of the easement strip, the neighbor gets the easement recorded and I benefit from that by having my easement clarified. I am so sick of this...

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Don't screw around ... get an attorney to evaluate this ASAP.
************************************************** *******
His threat is laughable.
You can't sue someone for refusing to sign a legal document. Save the money and buy some beer.

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Um ... the lawsuit would be over the property rights, not from him refusing to sign.

That might end up being some pretty expensive beer.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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We are also calling for the clarification of language regarding...

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And I'm calling for the ENTER button, for the clarification of this highly technical post.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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We are also calling for the clarification of language regarding...

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And I'm calling for the ENTER button, for the clarification of this highly technical post.

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Seriously. Where's cliffnotes when you need him?

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

Will signing that and allowing an easement affect your property value at all?

b

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Will signing that and allowing an easement affect your property value at all?

b

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No, there is language on our short plat map that states that we bear responsibility for maintenance and repair of the strip, so the maintenance agreement should have been set up two years ago, but the builder dropped the ball. I read the easement on our property to say that they have ingress/egress rights, but the language in the recording number that they cited in the EJMA is very vague, while the language that they use to summarize that recording number is very specific. We objected to that and his attorney caved immediately. The home that is going in on this lot will be 6,000 Sq. feet and have a price tag of $1.6 million, so my property value is going up. I suspect that the new owner will insist on a gate and will have to fight with the fire department over it. Once he wins his fight, we will gate our little neighborhood and see another bump in value. Also, the other two homes in our plat have massive upgrades and extensive landscaping, so they are worth way more than the $600,000 that shows up on the county website as the original sale price. They paid all of the upgrades out of pocket. We will have the least expensive home in the neighborhood. The short answer is that they already have an easement through our property, but we wouldn't deny them access if they didn't. We want to keep the language vague until we get a maintenance agreement in place--probably when the new home is finished.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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I don't understand what he would be suing you for. Perhaps I just don't understand property "stuff" well enough. But, how can you have any obligation to sign anything for him?

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I have been talking with attorneys and real estate people all day today. It is mass confusion--have you ever read a property description? Holy [censored]! I have no obligation to sign anything. If I refuse to sign the agreement, he is screwed and would have to find another access for his new parcel or sue me for denying him access to his property. I am currently benefitting from the easement that he needs to get in on, so I have to agree to let him in on the deal--it's not enough for the owners of the property to give him access now. His lawsuit will go down in flames because he has another access available, but it will make his other lot much less desirable. So we are making him strike a section from the agreement that attempts to interpet the utilities easement accross my portion of the road to mean that he has ingress/egress rights (the recording number that is referenced is very vague). We want him to have to enter a maintenace agreement on that portion of the street because we don't use it (and have told him so). We have it fenced out, but it adds square footage to our parcel and we are right on the edge of being able to subdivide our lot, so it's not totally useless. We are also calling for the clarification of language regarding repair and maintenance of the condo owned portion of the street. The document read as though the condos were a single entity that only got one vote, but they have 15 or 16 untits. So I told him we wouldn't sign unless it was clear that our financial responsibilty was going to be 1/20, not 1/6. I spoke with his attorney today and he agreed to agree to remove the offending paragraph and re-word the other language. If it gets done, we'll sign.

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I assume that you're extorting a lot of money out of this.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Again, don't mess around, get an attorney.

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This is bad advice. I can't tell you how many times I have been threatened and spent endless amounts of money on legal fees only to find out it was just alot of hot air.

Wait to see if you are served and then take action.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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I assume that you're extorting a lot of money out of this.

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Nope. Not interested in his dough. I've made it clear to him throughout this whole thing that we don't want to continue any relationship with him after this deal is done. Once we get this completed, he will have no more interest in our side of the neighborhood and I suspect we won't hear from him again. That will be better than money, plus his subdivide is going to jack up my property value, so there's my pile of cash right there.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Again, don't mess around, get an attorney.

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This is bad advice. I can't tell you how many times I have been threatened and spent endless amounts of money on legal fees only to find out it was just alot of hot air.

Wait to see if you are served and then take action.

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Please. Don't be an idiot.

The neighbor already has an attorney who has presented "Ripdog" with a contract. Its clear something is already underfoot and Ripdog's property rights are at stake. Obviously, Ripdog should not sign any contract regarding his property without having it reviewed.

Well, it so happens, Ripdog did get avice regarding the contract, which was smart.

On the other hand, had Ripdog ignored this situation and forced a (potential) lawsuit, he would have passed up an easy chance at getting a favorable settlement. Remember, his neighbor was knocking at HIS door, therefore, Ripdog had the leverage.

... Doesn't hurt to see what the fuss is about.

Once the lawsuit starts, the neighbor may already be "tied to the pot" and would have no choice but to see it through.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

i am involved in prescriptive easments alot. unless he has a recorded easment he may likely lose in court especially if he has any other access. he is in a hurry because you cant get title insurance or sell most parcels without legal access. i wouldnt be in a hurry to make a deal as it may force him to use the other access leaving this guy out of the use of the one.
unless i knew i would lose in court i would never give away access for free. if ripdog loses in court most likely he will only lose what he has lost already.

Rebuttal
 

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My neighbor threatens to sue me.

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Tell him to put it in his pooper.

Re: Rebuttal
 

exactly right [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Please. Don't be an idiot.

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You obviously don't have a clue, do you?
Leverage comes by not responding, make the other guy sweat it out. The more time Ripdog takes the sweeter the deal. Time was on Ripdog's side but unfortunately he rolled out the welcome mat far too soon especially after this guy threatened to sue him. IMO, this is not smart business.

Oski, come and talk to me when you have done as many property and business deals as I have. I'm 42 now and I don't think you will reach my level in your lifetime.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Please. Don't be an idiot.

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You obviously don't have a clue, do you?
Leverage comes by not responding, make the other guy sweat it out. The more time Ripdog takes the sweeter the deal. Time was on Ripdog's side but unfortunately he rolled out the welcome mat far too soon especially after this guy threatened to sue him. IMO, this is not smart business.

Oski, come and talk to me when you have done as many property and business deals as I have. I'm 42 now and I don't think you will reach my level in your lifetime.

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Your level? What are you, a Lvl. 10 Half-Elf Real Estate Agent? Do you have a +6 Legendary Sword of Brokering?

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Oski, come and talk to me when you have done as many property and business deals as I have. I'm 42 now and I don't think you will reach my level in your lifetime.

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I won't. I'm a lawyer, not a real estate agent. If I wanted to be a real estate agent, I wouldn't have bothered going to college in the first place.

You don't seem to appreciate that the "deal" is only part of the package. Avoiding a lawsuit is a good thing. Ripdog didn't lose any leverage by listening to the offer.

I guess, I'll let him be the judge, anyway.

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I can't tell you how many times I have been threatened and spent endless amounts of money on legal fees only to find out it was just alot of hot air.


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I am sorry that you have "spent endless amounts of money on legal fees." You should get a better idea of what a particular job will cost you up front. You might want to report these lawyers to the bar ... structuring an endelss fee arrangement is against the law and will probably result in them losing their right to practice law.

Re: Rebuttal
 

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My neighbor threatens to sue me.

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Tell him to put it in his pooper.

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Cyrus you have an opinion on everything don't you.

Re: My neighbor threatens to sue me
 

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Your level? What are you, a Lvl. 10 Half-Elf Real Estate Agent? Do you have a +6 Legendary Sword of Brokering?

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nh