THIS IS A SUMMARY OF THE E-MAIL
SENT/RECEIVED FROM LAWYERS
IT IS QUITE LARGE 377 PAGES
THANK YOU VERY MUCH REX
Richard:
Re "someone else completing the report", if Goodwin does not complete the
report, some other appraiser may have to do so. D.O.T. has insisted that we get
t hem an appraisal to support our claim before they will settle with us.
Richard the letter to DOT asking for an advance on your fees, I understand John
Logan has faxed that to you through Rex.
Richard your personal papers, I will contact Goodwin to have him make the papers
available. You can then go to
I will get my secretary to get our bill from our accounting office and I
will download the bill to you , possibly tonight or tomorrow. I would ask
John Logan to send me a draft of his bill and I will include it.
I have read the papers given to me in
As for sueing Goodwin, you are entitled to sue whomever you please.
The
question is: "Can you win?" And, at what cost? To sue Goodwin and win
anything of value, you would have to show what damages you suffered.
You have
not yet presented your claim to DOT and so cannot say that you have lost the
right to sue DOT.
You might be able to recover all or some of the $21,000
you already paid to Goodwin on the grounds that he breached his agreement
with you when he gave you an estimate that turned out to be wholly
erroneous.
It is likely a court would allow Goodwin at least some of his
bill, because he did do work of some value, even if not completed.
As well, it would cost you personally to sue him because only a small portion of your
legal fees would be recoverable from Goodwin if you won.
A civil suit is not like an expropriation case where normally the government pays all
of your costs.
If I understand your personal situation, you cannot afford to bring
a civil action against Goodwin.
Your better case is that you might be able to deny him recovery of that
portion of his bill that is judged excessive. What that amount is remains to
be determined after the expropriation claim is settled, because you might be
able to recover most, if not all, of Goodwin's bill from DOT.
In that case, you will have suffered no loss.
You ask whether we can go to court with Goodwin's appraisal and sue him for
delay, etc. If, by going to court, you mean going to court on the
expropriation case, we would not get very far because we need to have a
completed report from Goodwin and we need him to testify about it.
We cannot
simply hand in an incomplete draft to the court because the court will not
consider it, much less without the author of the report.
My advice is that you let Goodwin know that you are disputing the excess
amount of his bill and instruct him to proceed to complete it, leaving any
dispute to be resolved at the conclusion of the expropriation, if there is
any amount of his bill that remains unpaid by DOT.
If you were to discharge
Goodwin now, we would have to get yet another appraiser and start all over
again. And you would still have Goodwin breathing down your neck for the
balance of his fees. If Goodwin does not agree with those conditions, we may
be back at square one, looking for another appraiser.
You need to pick your battles carefully. Your best course is to get on with
your expropriation claim because that is where you have the best chance of
recovering a sum of money at least cost to you.
As for unanswered questions, if there are many questions unanswered from
previous e-mails it is because we are unable to answer them.
We have tried
to address your questions and concerns as best as we can. If there is
anything in particular that you wish us to consider, please let us know.
We will answer if we can.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tucker [mailto:rtucker@attcanada.net]
Sent: February 9, 2000 2:29 PM
To: Doug Caldwell
Cc: John B.D. Logan
Subject: WEDNESDAY - 09 FEB 2000
Mr. Caldwell FROM RICHARD:
1. What did you mean by someone else completing the report?
2. Where is the copy of the letter to DOT asking for an advance in
Appraisal Fees?
3. I want all my personal papers I sent to Mr. Goodwin. I do not want
them sent to me I want to come and get them myself. Let me know when they
are ready.
4. How much is your legal bill to this date?
If you have it on the computer can you send me the figures in Invoice form.
5. Have you read the "exclusive papers" given to you in
regarding Mr. Goodwin's billing invoice?
6. Tell me what my chances are of recovering my money from Mr. Goodwin?
How come he did not add the $38,000.00 figure to the covering letter he sent
to you on July-6 19 99.
He only mentioned in the last sentence about other
money.
Do you not agree with me that this is the first time I knew about
this money and the first time you knew about it.
I told Mr. Logan when this draft came to me that I was upset at the large unexpected
bill but I was more concerned with the unexpected low profits of $13,000.00 per house and
the lower than DOT value on the "Part Taken".
DOT paid me more than the
value that he Goodwin now has on his draft appraisal report . ? Why
7. I have requested my papers back last summer from Mr. Goodman.
Mr. Logan said he was going to
I would have put an end to this last summer.
My papers are my proof that I gave him all of the
estimates that I needed to build houses. The cost of the electrical,
plumbing, septic tanks etc! you name it. He then went to other people in
8. Can we go to court with my appraisal and sue Goodman for this delay
and breach of contract. Before we do this advise me of my right to sue. If
you do not have copies of his invoices let me know and I will send it to you.
I have asked so many question now and have not received any answers
that I will not bother sending any more questions.
I know your going to be
out Thursday and Friday so I suggest you go through my questions and answer
them today so I can make some decisions as to which direction I plan on
taking with this case.
One way or the other I have to get on with my life.
THERE ARE A
ANSWERED.
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELAY IN ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS.
LIKE MR. GOODWIN SAID THIS IS HIS BREAD AND BUTTER. WELL THE LONGER THIS IS
DELAYED THE LESS BREAD AND BUTTER I HAVE ON MY TABLE OR WHAT IS LEFT OF IT
Richard:
I am sorry I cannot answer all your questions today.
file and will get back to you as soon as I can. ( Douglas Caldwell the Lawyer.)
TEXTAREA_ID
No comments:
Post a Comment