How Mad are You?
During my undergraduate studies, I took a class entitled, “Legal Aspects of Boundary Surveying.” In it, the professor told this story about how mad he got with a mechanic:
I am a pilot and I own my own plane. I was having mechanical problems with it so I took it to a mechanic at my airport. I told the mechanic what it was doing and left him to it. A week or so later, I received a call, telling me my plane was ready.
I scheduled some time to go get it and take if for a test run the following day. I paid the mechanic and proceeded to take it out on a short flight. As I was taxiing down the runway, the engine began to sputter a bit. I immediately aborted the take-off and took it back to the mechanic.
Me: I just aborted my take-off because the plane was doing the same thing I paid you to fix.
Mechanic: I did what you asked, but I can look at it again.
Me: Well, whatever you did, it didn’t fix it.
Mechanic: Leave it here and I will look it over and work up a quote.
Me (rather indignant): Quote? I believe you need to do what you said you were going to do to start with. Why should I pay again for something you didn’t do the first time?
Mechanic (defensively): I did do what I said I did – which is exactly what you asked. I am not working on this plane for free. You wouldn’t survey for free…
Me (quite mad): Look, you can either fix it for what I paid you already – which you should have already done, or you will be hearing from my lawyer.
Mechanic (hateful): You do what you have to do, but I am NOT going to work on that plane for free – I did what you paid me for!
Me: Fine, you will be hearing from my attorney. (stomping off in a huff)
Me (hotly): Bob, I want to sue that damned mechanic that effed up my plane (I then recounted the whole story).
Bob (calmly): Ok, Bill, but how mad are you?
Me (in a huff): Oh, I am quite mad.
Bob (calmly): OK, but how mad?
Me (getting agitated): I real mad.
Bob (still calm): Yes, but how mad?
Me (getting wound up): I am really, really mad!
Bob (calmly): Alright, but how mad is that? Are you $5000 mad? Are you $10,000 mad? Just how mad are you?
I thought about this for a while and calmly decided I wasn’t as mad as I thought and opted to take the plane to a different mechanic.
I completely understand, Im in the process of suing the seller in a real estate dispute over an easement they added after the sale (where I purchased a 6 acre) tract at public auction and the seller 30 days after the sale and before closing added a 500ft easement that bisected my land for the benefit of the adjacent tract to pass percolation testing. This was and AS IS WHERE IS sale, ,go figure. I refused to take the easement without a significant discount. They told me they would sell to someone else. So I went out and got a lawyer sued for specific performance and have a lien on my parcel and the adjacent parcel so they cannot sell till court settled.
The auctioneer passed out plats that were signed and sealed 2 days before the auction and guaranteed me a 4 bedroom soil site in writing, AS IS WHERE IS. Turns out they were not all the way through the perc. testing when they sold and represented like they were complete at the time of the sale. MY lot passed for the 4 bedroom just fine but the adjacent tract they sold needed a curtain drain to extend 500ft thru my lot so I could take there excess water to pass. I would not lie about this, the auctioneer said nothing about soil sites not being complete just guaranteed them on the sales contract and the contract even states All info on file at Rutherford County, sold AS IS WHERE IS. To me and everyone else there, I have witness affidavits, soil testing was complete and no changes could be made. The contract even states closing 30 days or before and they kept stalling me and didn’t give me the new plat with easement 33 days after the auction, then said lets close tomorrow.
As you can imagine this made me made. In this case life savings mad. They still hold over 15K of my deposit paid the day of auction and I’m into a lawyer for another 10K with the number going up and if I lose I have to pay their lawyer fees like they will mine if they lose, per our sales contract. We had been searching for the property for years and it would have helped my business substantially, so we decided to fight. WE have summary hearing this Friday where they are trying to get it thrown out of court, my lawyers says they won’t, but you never know.
This has been hard on my marriage, family and business and if we win all we get is what we were promised almost a year ago. IF it goes against us we lose everything. So I almost laugh when I hear mad people talking about suing, because it will take over a year and well over 10k to get it just to trial, with a lawyer. The days of judges and juries awarding millions for spilled cups of coffee burns are gone. Your best bet it seems most of the time is small claims pleading the case yourself. You can be awarded 15k-25k depending on the county and you don’t risk tens of thousands.
So yes I was life savings Mad this time.