Legal Situation Update
Most of my writing challenge days will be journal or article style. Since I spent most of the day in court, today you're getting an update on my legal and financial situation.
First, the big lawsuit preventing the sale of the Estate of Mind property, my home. Lee Jundanian['s LLC] is still suing me, still blocking any other sales. His best settlement offer so far is about a million dollars less than our contract price, which is about a million below the current market value of the property. I've offered about halfway between the contract price and the current market value. We're currently scheduled for trial in September, but he has moved for another delay. I have in-progress motions to kick Lisa out of the case, split the case into separate judge trial and jury trial halves, reconsider my denied motion for summary judgment.
If I get everything I claim he owes me, I'll get to sell the property to new buyers later this year at the market value, and his LLC will owe me six or seven figures. I doubt I'll ever be able to collect on that, but it might be worth putting some of the sale money toward a lawyer to pursue it. If he gets everything he claims I owe him, he'll get the property for free and I'll owe him an additional six figure amount. This seems extremely unlikely, but stranger things have happened. This is really the only outcome that might lead to me declaring bankruptcy. Assigning probabilities to all the various outcomes, my current EV from the case is to pay off my debts and come out $1.1M ahead (not counting the value of the last two years of my life), ten months from now.
So far the most insightful advice I've gotten on the merits of the trial is one person who has given me a pretty detailed breakdown of how Lee might win by making me look like an asshole to a jury, so much so that they ignore all of the legal aspects of the case. I have him dead to rights half a dozen different ways on the merits, and even if he was planning on me being an awful lawyer two years ago I'm at least slightly better at it now, so this could be his fallback plan. I've started to plan for this eventuality, but there are still so many unknowns (e.g. many of his witnesses don't even know they are on his witness list yet).
The manor continues to deteriorate; even the most optimistic outlooks (including mine) don't expect it to be repairable any more. There are still some components that could be saved, like windows and fireplaces, but less of that every year. I still spend a full time job worth of effort as a caretaker of the property and an amateur lawyer. I don't have enough extra time or mental energy to get a new job after the sale falling through cost me my last one. I found an old retirement account that should cover my expenses for the next year or so; after that I'll be leaning on the friend who currently holds my mortgage.
Matthew is in jail, having pled guilty to threatening me and having my stolen stuff (not hitting me and stealing my stuff, because the Uxbridge DA prefers a sure thing). That might only last another couple of months, despite his other more serious pending charges, so I got a new restraining order based on the criminal convictions and his violation of the previous restraining order.
Lisa's restraining order against me has expired. It's still a black mark on my legal record that I'll need to do something about. I have designs on a SCOTUS case about a serious due process violation in the MA Appeals Court, but that will have to wait until I have nothing more pressing on my plate.
I still have a handful of housing court cases with Matthew and Lisa. They accuse me of being a bad landlord. I accuse them of being bad tenants and breaking and stealing my stuff. If there are no more delays, those might be headed toward resolution in August or September. Lisa's eviction case is finally over, but the judge made an exceptionally niche ruling that threw us both for a loop. I'm going to have to take her to court again if I want to pursue the first year of unpaid rent. If all our current cases wrap up later this year then I won't bother, but if any of them get stretched out by delays and appeals then I'll probably throw that onto the pile.
If I can ever sell this place, the taxes will put some extreme time constraints on the situation. It's entirely plausible that the decision that I can sell comes down to a judge taking an arbitrary number of months to rule. As soon as that hits, I'll need to list, contract, and close in short order, and then I'll have just three months to find a new place to buy or invest in. This is why you see me posting about properties every month; I need to have a list of candidates ready when the time comes.
Thanks for coming along for this ride. I hope to see you all on the other side!