Where can I research county, state, federal court rulings for non-disclosure?

[JimTrail]

Hello FreeAdvice Forum!

Question: Where can I find or search for civil case law rulings by the Tennessee County Courts, the Tennessee State Supreme Court, or the US Federal Court?

There was a Tennessee licensed real estate agent/seller that sold me his condominium. The sale price was $57,000.

After the closing I found a floor brace in the crawl space directly below the unit. The floor brace is poorly constructed. It violates several building code requirements.

The real estate agent/seller is a civil engineer. He told me he used to be a licensed general contractor. He now develops real estate. He now hires general contractors. I feel certain that he knew there were structural issues.

According to the Tennessee Broker Licensing Act of 1995 real estate agents are required by law to disclose known issues or material defects.

I filed a complaint with the Tennessee Real Estate Commission (TREC). That was in January, 2015. The real estate agent/seller responded to the complaint. In his response he made denials and told outright lies. He says he had no idea that there were structural issues.

In his response he said he acted as the seller, and not the real estate agent, and asked the TREC to dismiss the complaint against him. The TREC did not fulfill his request. A technician with the TREC had earlier told me that even though he was the seller he was still required to make the disclosure under the Tenn. Broker Licensing Act of 1995.

It went for about three months and the TREC took no actions.

In April of this year the TREC called me on the phone. They said something like [I'm paraphrasing] 'due to the nature of the complaint it would have to be decided by litigation.'

I am not an attorney. I filed a law suit with the Knox County, Tennessee Circuit Court on a pro se basic.

The defendant's lawyer told me he was going to file a motion for a summary judgment where he would ask the court to compel me to pay the defendant's legal fees.

In my response to the motion I want to be able to cite cases where real estate agents were penalized by the courts for non-disclosure.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: The condo and lawsuit are in Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee.

 

[justalayman]

Case law will do nothing for you if the law itself does not allow for a penalty n



Beyond that before you even get that far you will have to prove he was aware of the issue. So far your speculation isn't going to get it.

 

[JimTrail]

Case law will do nothing for you if the law itself does not allow for a penalty n



Beyond that before you even get that far you will have to prove he was aware of the issue. So far your speculation isn't going to get it.

justalayman;

Thanks for responding to my question.

The seller was a real estate licensee. The Tennessee Real Estate Commission (TREC) told me that the seller/real estate agent was required to make a disclosure. The complaint I filed against him with the TREC is still pending.

The minutes for the Homeowner's Association has mentioned the structural issues prominently.

Here's the law from the Tennessee Broker Licensing Act of 1995:

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66-5-206. Duties of real estate licensees.

A real estate licensee representing an owner of residential real property as the listing broker has a duty to inform each such owner represented by that licensee of the owner's rights and obligations under this part. A real estate licensee representing a purchaser of residential real property or, if the purchaser is not represented by a licensee, the real estate licensee representing an owner of residential real estate and dealing with the purchaser has a duty to inform each such purchaser of the purchaser's rights and obligations under this part. If a real estate licensee performs those duties, the licensee shall have no further duties to the parties to a residential real estate transaction under this part, and shall not be liable to any party to a residential real estate transaction for a violation of this part or for any failure to disclose any information regarding any real property subject to this part. However, a cause of action for damages or equitable remedies may be brought against a real estate licensee for intentionally misrepresenting or defrauding a purchaser. A real estate licensee will further be subject to a cause of action for damages or equitable relief for failing to disclose adverse facts of which the licensee has actual knowledge or notice. "Adverse facts" means conditions or occurrences generally recognized by competent licensees that significantly reduce the structural integrity of improvements to real property, or present a significant health risk to occupants of the property.
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[Just Blue]

Did you have the Condo inspected before buying?

 

[justalayman]

They have to disclose know conditions. We know he did not disclose the condition but now you have to prove he knew of the condition. The law does not require them to disclose issues that are unknown and there is no reasonable belief they should have known. The law does not require them to have a building inspected in an attempt to discover all less than acceptable conditions.



So, as I said: you have to prove he did actually know or should have known based on the "you couldn't live there and not be aware of that" situation.



That is exactly what your bolded section is saying; must know or have been given notice of the condition. You can't disclose something you don't know about


Speaking of: did he live there? If not it is even easier to not be aware of substandard conditions

 

[OK-LL]

Most likely a floor brace in a crawl space located outside the definition of the "unit" as described in the governing documents, is a part of the common elements. Individual ownership is limited to the "unit" as defined in the GD. Therefore, I question whether the seller had a duty to disclose a condition that existed on the common elements & not in his unit. It would be akin to seller having to disclose that a housing development was going to be built down the street; it will affect the values of the subject property and is within the buyer's ability to learn of it, but it is not a required disclosure. Not seller's monkey, not seller's circus.

 

[JimTrail]

Blue Meanie, justalayman, OK-LL;

Thanks for responding.

Per Blue Meanie's question: No, I did not have a home inspection.

Per justalayman's question/comments: His daughter lived in the condo. In his response to the complaint he said he would not have let his daughter live there if it was unsafe. I am going to ask him how did he know it was safe.

One corner of the bath tub was about 1" lower than the other three corners. I had put a statement in the contract that the seller would repair the bathroom floor. He kept telling me there was nothing wrong with the bathroom floor. He breached his contract.

There is no smoking gun proof he knew of the issues. The board minutes that were published indicates he had notice. But it's true I can't prove he looked at them. He knew all about it, though, I am sure.

The seller/real estate agent told a lot of lies in his response to the complaint. He is going to have to get on the witness stand and lie under oath.

Per OK-LL's question: The floor brace is located in a common area.

Per my original question: I found the answer to my question.

A lady with Lexis told me. She said to contact a local law school, if there are any available, and see if they had a law library.

I am fortunate. The University of Tennessee has a law school. It's about 3 or 4 miles from where I live. I called there. A lady told me that I am welcome to research case law there. She said that they have librarians that can help.

Thanks again.