- 8 hours ago
Tribunal Justice S03E37
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00:00You are a real estate agent.
00:02We come in and we do all the renovations for them.
00:04Because it stunk, smelled, disgusting.
00:07No one was going to buy it like that.
00:08It was rough.
00:09You had all of this work done.
00:10Why aren't you paying?
00:11I never got a copy of any agreements.
00:13Really?
00:14She says, if you don't take this offer,
00:16you're never going to sell your house.
00:18What happens if the house just doesn't sell?
00:20You eat those fees, right?
00:22I've never had that happen before.
00:23I don't care.
00:25Now, on Tribunal Justice.
01:00You're welcome, Judge.
01:00Parties have been sworn in.
01:01You may be seated.
01:02Ma'am, have a seat, please.
01:03Ms. Samarenko.
01:05Hi, Your Honor.
01:05Hello.
01:06You are a real estate agent?
01:08Yes.
01:09The defendant hired you to sell her home.
01:12But the home wasn't quite market ready.
01:15It needed some repairs.
01:17And you maintain that the two of you had an agreement
01:19whereby you were going to pay for the costs of these improvements.
01:23And she was going to reimburse you either out of the close of escrow
01:27or if the house didn't close, personally.
01:30Mm-hmm.
01:30That's correct.
01:30You say that she then canceled the listing agreement.
01:33And after having done that, she's now refusing to uphold her end of the bargain.
01:38And you're suing her for $10,000, which is what you say she owes you
01:42for the repairs that you paid for in order to get her property ready for sale.
01:47That is correct.
01:47Ms. Caroleo, you maintain that you didn't have an agreement with the plaintiff
01:51for her to pay for any repairs and that you don't owe her any money.
01:55You also say that you never wanted to cancel the listing.
01:58Correct.
01:59You maintain that she committed elder abuse against you,
02:02that she bullied you, that she harassed you.
02:05You're suffering from anxiety and sleep deprivation.
02:08And you have a countersuit against her for $10,000.
02:12Ms. Samarenko, so how long have you been in the business?
02:15Ms. Samarenko, so I have worked very hard over the last 22 years.
02:19And I sell roughly on average about 150 houses a year on my own.
02:24And my team does additional.
02:26And I have earned my number one ranking in the area.
02:31So when we go into a home that's not market ready,
02:34we come in and we do all the renovations for them.
02:37So if you can have new flooring, new paint, landscaping,
02:40anything that is going to, you know, increase the value of your home,
02:44you'll get that money back.
02:46And then on top of that, of course.
02:47And Ms. Caroleo, this property had some sentimental value to you.
02:52Tell us about that.
02:53My late boyfriend of 21 years, I call him my husband, passed away.
02:58You know, I come home, you know, found him dead.
03:00It's just really hard.
03:02You wanted a fresh start.
03:03Yeah.
03:03You wanted a fresh start.
03:05Yes.
03:05We have the listing agreement.
03:06You remember signing the listing agreement.
03:08I don't even have a copy of the listing agreement.
03:10You never got a copy of the listing agreement?
03:12I've been asking her for this whole time.
03:14I never got a copy of any agreements.
03:16So is it your testimony that you never docusigned this document?
03:19Because I saw what appeared to be an electronic signature.
03:22I did.
03:23So you did docusign it.
03:24You read it online.
03:26She read it for me.
03:27So you didn't read it.
03:29No.
03:29There's nothing in this case that would allow me to override the normal presumption
03:34that a party who signed an agreement is presumed to have read it.
03:37That's actually the law.
03:38So I'm going to presume that you read it.
03:40And in fact, one of the items in the agreement indicates that any and all funds invested into
03:48the subject property will be reimbursed to the plaintiff upon closing.
03:53And then if seller cancels the contract, any and all funds invested will be reimbursed
03:59within three days after cancellation.
04:02Do you recall that provision?
04:03Not really, but the repairs were coming out of the escrow.
04:08Okay.
04:08The provision I just read says either escrow or you, if you cancel.
04:13If you cancel the sale, there's no escrow.
04:15I didn't cancel.
04:16So let's move on.
04:17Ms. Samarenko, tell me what you do to get the house ready before buyers just started to
04:24come through.
04:24Just three items in general.
04:26One of them was new flooring.
04:28One of them was cleaning up the landscaping.
04:31Flooring, landscaping, and what else?
04:34And the other one was picking up debris.
04:37Can we put up the photo of the debris?
04:39It's plaintiff's exhibit one.
04:42So before any work is done.
04:43That is correct.
04:44She just had all of these random paint cans on the desk?
04:47Just random items kind of laying around.
04:49Yes.
04:49Before I come back to you, Ms. Caroleo, I want to kind of walk through what happened with
04:53your potential buyers.
04:54You had one buyer come in.
04:56Offer was accepted.
04:57They didn't qualify.
04:58Potential buyer one goes out the door.
05:00In the first week, yes.
05:01Potential buyer two comes through.
05:03Potential buyer two has inspections.
05:05Potential buyer two says, I'm out.
05:07House needs too much work.
05:08That is correct.
05:09And at this point, there were some additional items, ma'am, that were recommended to you.
05:13And you were like, I don't want to put any more money into this house, right?
05:16I did not say that.
05:17Well, wait.
05:17Let's back up.
05:18According to your answer, you said, I want a second opinion.
05:21And she wouldn't let you get a second opinion.
05:23She wanted to get a second opinion.
05:25And I told her she is more than welcome to contact any contractor that she wants to get
05:28a second opinion.
05:28Yeah, because it seems strange to me.
05:30Absolutely.
05:31That somebody whose business is to sell the house.
05:32Yes.
05:33Like, get a second opinion.
05:35Get five opinions.
05:36But let's move forward so we can make these repairs.
05:38There were two major repairs that were called out through the inspection.
05:40One was the roof and one was the HVAC system.
05:43And she made those repairs.
05:44Yes.
05:44Well, I made the roof repair.
05:46The $10,000 that you're suing for are just for those preliminary repairs before you showed
05:52the house.
05:52Correct.
05:53And one of the things you say, Mrs. Caroleo, is that you had all of these strangers coming
05:57through and you didn't know who they were, but you knew that she was getting work done
06:02on the house so you could sell it, right?
06:03Your Honor, it'd be nice if I was known ahead of time and said somebody trying to walk into
06:09my door.
06:09So sometimes they showed up as contractors do, but you weren't unaware of the fact that
06:13this work was being done.
06:16Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
06:18There was absolutely zero doubt that you told her, cancel the listing.
06:25Now, the question is, did you cancel it?
06:32Realtor Lorena Simarenko says Angela Caroleo hired her to renovate and sell her home.
06:38But Angela pulled the listing, so Lorena wants the $10,000 she spent on improvements.
06:43Angela is counter-suing for $10,000 for intimidation and elder abuse.
06:48You say that she wanted to cancel the listing, and you're like, I never wanted to cancel the
06:53listing.
06:53I didn't want to cancel the listing.
06:55You're harassing me.
06:56You're forcing me to do all of these things.
06:58And I found that really surprising because I saw a number of text messages from you to
07:04the plaintiff where, guess what you said to her?
07:07I need to hold off on the sale of my house due to medical issues.
07:12You later on said, we need to discuss the cancellation.
07:15I just want you to think about that.
07:17I don't recall saying I wanted to cancel.
07:19I recall saying I wanted to put my house, take it off the market and put it on hold due
07:23to my medical back surgery.
07:25I'm looking at another text from her to you, clarifying.
07:29She says, are you wanting just to cancel the listing?
07:32If so, I will draw up the cancellation today and send it over.
07:36I just need to check for all of the work that was completed.
07:39Your response, not, no, I don't want to cancel the listing.
07:42Your response is, yes, I'll pay the contract when I receive the invoice.
07:47I'm very confused by your position.
07:49I'm going to pass the case to Judge Domingo right now.
07:51So let's start with a couple of things.
07:53I don't believe for a second you didn't read the contract.
07:55You may not have read every detail, but you read the important stuff.
07:59And part of the reason you say you did not cancel the contract is because the contract went from
08:05July to January.
08:08And you strung her along in text messages for months about, I'll get you the papers,
08:14I'll sign the papers, all, in my view, waiting for what mistakenly you thought would be the end of the
08:20contract,
08:21at which point you would not be responsible for repairs that she did.
08:25I think you believed that once that contract was up, you did not have to pay her a dime.
08:32My understanding from your position is that you are suing here under what we call a concept of promissory estoppel.
08:39As the promisee, you are going to do certain work, and the promissor tells you for that work,
08:46when the house is sold, you can take the money.
08:49What was your commission going to be?
08:51So interestingly enough, I usually charge a specific commission amount of 2.5% flat to take on a normal
08:59listing.
08:59But when I do renovations, because I'm taking money out of my own pocket to invest into somebody else's home,
09:05and then, of course, to acting as a contractor, I charge an additional percent.
09:08So you do what, 3.5%?
09:103.5% is what she agreed to.
09:113.5, right?
09:12So ultimately, I should be getting what I paid for out of pocket and my commission.
09:16I mean, I have that here.
09:18I have the list of things that you asked for.
09:19The total that I got when I added up the windows, the carpet changing, the fascial,
09:24the lights that you used to put over the sign, the cleaning company, the yard work,
09:28photography of the home, the roof fixing, the hauling away of property, the exterminating, etc., $9,600.
09:36If you were to have sold the house at, well, let's just say, what was the price up, for example?
09:40It was $415,000.
09:42If you were to have sold the house at that price, you would have only made about $14,000 or
09:46$15,000.
09:48So why would anybody who's only going to make $15,000 lay out $10,000 to make a sale?
09:53It's just not worth it.
09:54So, of course, she had these conversations with you.
09:57You also mentioned in there that she wanted to sell it for $425,000.
10:03Correct.
10:03And you only wanted to sell it for $415,000.
10:06Can I explain that?
10:07Yeah, I would like you to explain that.
10:09Like she told me, she had a buyer.
10:11We're going to sell the house for $415,000 and they're going to buy it for $425,000.
10:16And when I get the money, because I want $415,000, to give them $10,000 back so they can
10:21do what they want for the house.
10:23Now, isn't that interesting, because I actually have something from you saying that currently your house is up for sale.
10:32Not $415,000, not $420,000, not $425,000.
10:38You know what you have your house up for sale for now?
10:41$430,000.
10:42$430,000.
10:43And I was more than willing to relist the house for her when she was ready to.
10:47There was no, we never not got along.
10:51I mean, she was a great...
10:51Well, she thinks she didn't, so I'm going to pass it on to Judge Levy.
10:55So, what happens if the house just doesn't sell and the seller just says, you know what, I'm going to
11:00go with another broker.
11:01You didn't work hard enough.
11:01You eat those fees, right?
11:03No, I've never had that happen before.
11:05I don't care.
11:06That's a risk you take to be number one in your area.
11:09Who's this?
11:10This is one of my business partners.
11:12Come on up.
11:13You're shaking your head, smiling.
11:14He's like, he got it.
11:16Right?
11:17Yes.
11:17You know that you can get stuck holding the bag.
11:20Yes.
11:21Because of a whole host of problems.
11:24Yes.
11:24Now, I'm going to ask you, are you going to tell me now, as you had my colleagues, that you
11:29never wanted to cancel this listing?
11:31Correct.
11:31You never wanted to cancel it?
11:33You provided us with text messages today as evidence in your case, right?
11:36Right.
11:37But this is one that you did not include.
11:39This is from November 7th.
11:41Plaintiff, cancellation of listing.
11:43What was your response?
11:45I'm not canceling.
11:46I wanted to put it.
11:47What did you write?
11:48Okay.
11:49Defend it.
11:50I have a thumbs up.
11:51Thumbs up.
11:52Thumbs up.
11:53So now we're clear.
11:54There was absolutely zero doubt that you told her, cancel the listing.
12:00Now, the question is, did you cancel it?
12:04Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
12:06Did you think that once the contract was over, you didn't have to pay her for the year?
12:10No.
12:10Oh, you thought you would have had to pay her no matter what?
12:12Of course.
12:12The stuff that was done.
12:14So why aren't you paying her?
12:20Realtor Lorena Semarinko is suing Angela Carolio for $10,000, money spent renovating her home
12:26so Lorena could sell it.
12:28Angela says she only put the deal on hold after an injury.
12:31She's now countersuing for $10,000, claiming Lorena bullied and intimidated her.
12:36There was absolutely zero doubt that you told her, cancel the listing.
12:42Now, the question is, did you cancel it?
12:44You're going to tell me, no, I didn't, because I sent her the cancellation papers that she
12:49needed to sign in order to formally cancel it.
12:51That is correct.
12:52Put them under the mat.
12:53I did.
12:53You took a photograph of that.
12:54I sure did.
12:55You sent it to us.
12:55So you got those.
12:57You didn't sign them.
12:58No, I did not.
12:59But you didn't take the listing down.
13:01Yes, that is correct.
13:02Because you wanted to get your money back.
13:04Well, she didn't cancel the listing, so I can't legally take it down.
13:07The question is, do you think you did anything wrong here?
13:10No.
13:11Really?
13:12So all of this work that this broker here does for you, you had flooring, new carpeting
13:18and padding put in your entire place, right?
13:20Correct.
13:21Because it stunk, smelled, disgusting.
13:23No one was going to buy it like that.
13:24It was rough.
13:25Came out of her pocket.
13:26You don't owe her anything?
13:28Ha ha.
13:29I'm done.
13:29Ma'am, I want to follow up because I just want to explore your counterclaim.
13:34You say that she intimidated you, she harassed you, she bullied you, she committed elder abuse.
13:40You really made her out to be quite a nasty person.
13:43But instead, when I look at her communications, she says, I'm just checking in again.
13:49Were you able to make your arrangements at a time when you say you haven't been able to do anything
13:53because of the surgery?
13:56She was like, okay, let me know how much time you need.
13:58You go radio silent.
14:00Six days after that, you're like, oh, my sister died.
14:03She doesn't respond.
14:04She's leaving you alone.
14:05And then six days after you tell her that your sister passed away, she's like, good morning, Angela.
14:11Would you like to finally cancel the listing?
14:13I mean, my goodness, if everybody intimidated like that, this world would be full of love and peace and rainbows
14:19and unicorns.
14:20So it is now your opportunity to give me your best evidence of bullying, intimidation, and elder abuse by this
14:28plaintiff.
14:29You have a $10,000 counterclaim against her.
14:32When I was telling her about the surgery and these offers, I had told her that I couldn't do it.
14:40And she says, if you don't take this offer, you're never going to sell your house.
14:45But what you're telling me is she said, listen, this may be the best offer that comes by.
14:49We may not get a better offer.
14:51And indeed, you didn't.
14:52But you do seem to have found some value in her work.
14:55The last thing I'll ask you is you've also claimed that she caused you anxiety and you couldn't sleep.
15:03Why should I assume that she's responsible for an inability to sleep and not some of the chronic disorders that
15:09you've shown us that are on your medical records?
15:11I had surgery in June, back surgery in June.
15:13So she knew about that.
15:15And I was having problems.
15:16And I said, I need a place to go after surgery to recoup.
15:20I need something.
15:21Well, we can do a buyback at $100 a day.
15:24I can't afford $100 a day.
15:25I didn't see that.
15:26I thought I saw her offering to help you with the rental.
15:28I don't have anything else.
15:29But I do have a question for you.
15:31You kept that pending sign because when people see pending, they don't make offers.
15:36That is correct.
15:37You and your shrewdness were saying, I'll be damned.
15:40I'm not going to waste my time on this place, Ewanhar.
15:42I'm going to leave sale pending and not have to worry about people bombarding me with offers.
15:47You know, we did go through the two.
15:48One that backed out for the mortgage.
15:50Two for the HVAC that she refused to repair.
15:52That is correct.
15:53I mean, nobody wants to buy a house without hot and cold.
15:55Where was the third one you mentioned?
15:57You said you had three.
15:57We had a third full price offer.
15:59It came in over asking.
15:59I presented the full price offer to her, and that's when she decided not to move forward.
16:04Now, one other thing back to you.
16:06Did you think that once the contract was over, you didn't have to pay her for the...
16:10No, no.
16:10You thought you would have had to pay her no matter what?
16:12The stuff that was done, of course.
16:14So why aren't you paying her?
16:15What are you doing?
16:16Because like I had told her, the stuff that was done comes out of the escrow.
16:21What?
16:22And she said, correct, but you canceled it.
16:24I did not cancel.
16:25See, that's my point.
16:26I asked you that when I first went through this.
16:28You're not canceling officially as a strategic move.
16:32When you show your house with this beautiful carpet and all, I didn't notice you ripping
16:38it up because you were so annoyed.
16:40You had all of this work done, and then you put the house up for sale for $15,000 more
16:45than you wanted to in the first place.
16:47And then you're going to stand in here and say, you're the one who's...
16:50By the way, how...
16:51For elder abuse, we have to establish you're an elder.
16:54How old are you?
16:5469.
16:55I'm not putting that in under the elder category.
16:58I got to be honest with you.
16:59And now we are going to retire you to deliberate this time.
17:02Thank you, ladies.
17:03Please have a seat.
17:04Court now stands in recess.
17:06I'm sorry to speak.
17:15So, I have to admit to the two of you, I'm a little bit dizzy from all of the defendant's
17:19various versions and her machinations and going back and forth.
17:23She comes to court initially saying that there is no agreement to repay the plaintiff for these
17:28repairs.
17:28Then she says, well, I signed the agreement, but I didn't read it.
17:31Then she says, well, all of the money was supposed to be paid out of escrow, even though that totally
17:35contradicts the agreement and, as you pointed out, Adam, her very own messages to the plaintiff.
17:41And then she says, well, she was so mean that she was committing elder abuse and harassing me
17:45when all the plaintiff was trying to do was to work around her schedule, accommodate her various
17:50changes in position and the delays.
17:52The defendant has received so much value from the plaintiff's work that she's now going to list
17:58the property for $15,000 more than it was in the plaintiff's hands.
18:02So, I find something really unsavory about that.
18:05I'd give the plaintiff everything she's asking for.
18:07I definitely want to award her the money that she laid out, which is $9,630.
18:12The plaintiff said, when we do this kind of thing, we take a risk.
18:16But they really don't because there are lawsuits such as this where, based on promissory estoppel,
18:23they can come forward and say, listen, we had a deal.
18:25We went and laid money out.
18:27She owes us.
18:27And they could still prevail, even though they may not prevail directly under the contract
18:31that, you know, once it expires, if they do the work.
18:34Because then a lot of people would be motivated to sit back and say, let me just wait.
18:38I refuse to sign this because if I sign it, then I'm the one that breached the contract
18:43and I'll be stuck paying her.
18:45But if she breaches the contract, then I won't have to pay her anything.
18:49And of course, that did not work with all of us here.
18:52So I really feel that the defendant was not harassed by the plaintiff.
18:57In fact, she was just in her own head about what she wanted to do.
19:01And that was gain the benefit of the work done.
19:03So dismiss the counterclaim, nice and simple.
19:06And with regard to the plaintiff getting her money, I think she's entitled to the money that's laid out of
19:12pocket.
19:12First of all, I agree both.
19:14Dismiss the counterclaim by the defendant.
19:16Plaintiff succeeds in her suit.
19:18It's just a matter of dollars.
19:19As far as what the plaintiff put in, the contract very clearly states any and all funds invested into the
19:25subject property.
19:26If seller cancels the contract, which clearly the seller did cancel the contract, any and all funds invested to be
19:33reimbursed, $9,630 under that theory.
19:37Correct.
19:37But under a different theory, which is that the seller, our defendant, interfered with the sale.
19:44The contract states that the broker, under those circumstances, is entitled to a full 3.5%, which is $14,525.
19:52Correct.
19:53Is anyone interested in increasing her award to $10,000?
19:58Yeah, you know why?
19:59Given them.
20:00Yeah, because she did spend time and effort in showing people the home and all, so she should get something
20:05in compensation for that.
20:06And it's pursuant to the agreement.
20:07Yeah, she would have had 3.5%.
20:09Yes, and to the extent anyone wanted to see the thumbs up, that was our defendant with a thumbs up,
20:16cancel the contract, thumbs up, don't lie.
20:19I think that her countersuit was interposed in bad faith and is frivolous at best.
20:24It sure was.
20:25I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who saw that harshly.
20:29Especially that she's not even a senior citizen.
20:31That's right.
20:32She's just getting started.
20:38Quarters back in session.
20:40I remind parties you're still under oath.
20:42Thank you, Bird.
20:43Mm-hmm.
20:43We have deliberated and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
20:48Ms. Caroleo, I'm going to start with your countersuit.
20:51We're unanimous not only in dismissing it, but in thinking that it was interposed in bad faith.
20:56It's frivolous.
20:58I mean, you accused her of intimidation and bullying and elder abuse.
21:02I think that your attempt to try to paint her as something for which there's no evidentiary support, I think
21:09that's intimidation.
21:10I think that when you bring a lawsuit against a service professional in a small community accusing them of elder
21:17abuse, that's really, really low.
21:19So we are dismissing the countersuit.
21:21Ms. Samarenko, we've also reviewed your complaint and your evidence, and we're unanimous in concluding that you're entitled to every
21:29dollar for which you are suing.
21:31Not only did you front the money for repairs that clearly increased the value of her home, as is evidenced
21:39by the fact that she's now putting it on the market for $15,000 more and advertising the fact that
21:46it now benefits from all of the work that you did and that you paid for.
21:51She interfered with the sale and now has tried to cut you out.
21:54We think that that's really shameful behavior.
21:57We think that your reputation and your work didn't deserve that.
22:00And we had no problem unanimously concluding that you're entitled to the $10,000.
22:06Good luck to you.
22:07Congratulations on your business.
22:08That's the verdict of the court.
22:10This case is now concluded.
22:12Parties are excused.
22:13You may step out.
22:17I did not fire her.
22:18She was still going to be my realtor.
22:20Until I heal and then put it back on the market.
22:22I immediately noticed that she was taking advantage of it.
22:25If you cancel, okay, then I'm responsible for it.
22:29She went somewhere else and listed for hire.
22:31So, yes, it's kind of like a slap in the face.
22:33You know, like she says, work with me.
22:34No, she hasn't worked with me.
22:36Absolutely not.
22:37Everything was documented properly and I'm still here to help other people.
22:41Did someone break an agreement?
22:43Let tribunal justice decide your case.
22:46Find us on social media.
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