ethics violation and liability

[amalejko]

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

This is a strange situation so I'm going to do my best to explain it. My husband had two partners in a business, one is a lawyer. They purchased a piece of property together and the lawyer drew up the agreement between the three of them (our first mistake) . The lawyers ex-wife showed up after we signed the document and notarized the signatures (mine being one as a witness) although at the time she said "I have not read this yet" but she went ahead and notarized it. The partnership went bad and we are in litigation. The issue is that the business partner altered the document with additional witnesses AFTER it was notorized and we can prove it. Apparently he forgot that I was present and hand wrote someone else's name under my signature and that document was presented to the court. In addition the notary filed an affidavit with the court stating she told us we should have an attorney present, that she had read the document etc. Basically she lied and we are confident now that we have the altered document, the judge will believe us that she is lieing. What I want to know is she liable as an attorney even though she acted as the notory only? I am going to the DA to request that charges be filed but I also would like to sue her. Her actions have cost my husband and I 25k in attorney's fees.

[seniorjudge]

Why do you think that notaries are required to read documents and give legal advice?

You kept a copy of everything that was signed, did you not?

In other words, please explain your situation a little more clearly.

[amalejko]

Yes! I have a copy of the original signed document, the altered document with a LA certification stamp on it, a copy of the notaries affidavit that was submitted to the judge. Basically my husband's business partner (an attorney) created a mortgage document for the real estate, we unfortunately signed it and then his ex-wife showed up and notarized it. When the partnership went bad the partner filed a lawsuit to try and take away my husband's ownership in the property. Our attorney used the defense that the document was invalid as the partner who is an attorney did not follow protocal in that he did not tell us to get our own attorney to review the document etc. The judge so far has agreed with us but I want to strengthen our case and I think the key is to get the notary affidavit thrown out. It will show that these people doctored evidence and basically commited fraud against us and the court. Her affidavit states that she went through all of the legal requirements but she did not. She was not even present. In addition, there are places for the witnesses signatures and then their printed name. The document has my signature and someone else's handwritten name below it; the other witness signatures are correct but they did not write their own names in either. I think they just forgot who actually was there when the document was signed and they had to correct it to file the document with the court and in their haste, they made a significant error.

I believe when the judge sees this he will question the validity of the affidavit she wrote...if he does, this case will get thrown out of court and we will keep our property. But I think she should be held responsible as well. Unfortunately my husband and I have paid a small fortune in attorney's fees and are now having to do as much of this ourselves as we can. If she is clearly liable, I want to file a civil suit against her as I would have spent about 20k less in attorney's fees.

I hope I have explained things better...it is very confusing.

[seniorjudge]

If she is clearly liable, I want to file a civil suit against her as I would have spent about 20k less in attorney's fees.

You need to be suing her in THIS lawsuit.

[amalejko]

So we should just add her to it!