Real Estate Litigation: Do You Have To Mediate?
Do You Have To Mediate Before Litigation When Using The CAR Purchase Agreement?
Real estate attorneys often handle cases arising from the California Association of Realtor’s form California Residential Purchase Agreement. Most houses in Los Angeles (and the rest of the State) are purchased using this contract. One provision of the Purchase Agreement provides that the parties will mediate any dispute arising from the contract and, if a party commences an action without first attempting to mediate or refuses to mediate once a request has been made, then that party cannot collect attorneys fees, even if they prevail in litigation.
What Are You Reading?
Here are two “political” books for your lazy August days by the pool.
The take away lesson from both of these books is less about politics and more about the importance of working the phones, keeping in touch and building relationships to build whatever business you are in.
Work Hard, Study…And Keep Out Of Politics by James Baker
“Baker was Ford’s campaign manager, H.W. Bush’s campaign manager, and Reagan’s Chief of Staff before becoming Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of the State. He was a Dallas corporate attorney until he was 40—I love to read about people who made a change. I am also awed at the organizational skills needed to be Chief of Staff and to run a presidential campaign. He has written a separate book about being Secretary of State. I really enjoyed this book. Whenever you think running your business is just too time consuming, think what it would take to do these jobs!”
The Whole Damn Deal: Robert Strauss and the Art of Politics by Kathryn J. McGarr
“Strauss is the founder of Akin Gump but more known as the Democratic man to know. A Texas lawyer, Strauss got involved in politics and became head of the DNC. Strauss worked the phones and built relationships. He was a power broker starting from the Johnson years through H.W. Bush. This is a great book and another great reminder of the power of relationships.”
What are we working on now?
- Breach of contract case between two advertising companies.
- Breach of right of first refusal for industrial building.
- Partnership dispute over the sale of a beach-side vacation townhome.
- Boundary dispute between homeowner and school.
- Allegation of bulk sales law violation against supermarket.
- Partnership dispute over television channel.
- Attorney malpractice relating to underlying real estate litigation.
- Partition and sale of family owned ranch property.
- Fraudulent conveyance related to import company.
- Boundary dispute between two residential neighbors.