In Oregon, buyers of real estate may sue real estate agents when the home they bought has unexpected problems, under certain circumstances. The buyer has several rights to sue, this post discusses only one of them: claims under Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA).
The recent case of Scott Fowler v. Cheri Cooley from Oregon's Court of Appeals illustrates the UTPA claim. When Mr. Fowler inspected the house, he saw two men repairing the walls near the sump pump. The workers said they did "not know anything," so Mr. Fowler asked the real estate agent, Ms. Cooley. When asked if there had been any water leaks, Ms. Cooley said the sump pump was just precautionary. Yet, she sold the house previously, and the seller took it back after the previous buyer had problems with water leaks.
One of my clients has a similar situation. In our case when the realtor signed up the listing, she saw that the carpets had been pulled up and fans were blowing. Consequently, her claim to being dumb to the problem of previous flooding did not fool the arbitrator, and we won the case.
Under the UTPA, a consumer may sue people in a business or trade, such as Realtors®. The UTPA does not apply to claims against the average seller, because it is not their business to sell real estate. (However other laws apply to sue the seller.) The UTPA allows suits when a defendant (1) misrepresents real estate, goods or services, (2) fails to disclose material defects, and (3) many other situations. To read up on the other situations, see ORS 646.605 through 646.652.
Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act provides advantages compared to claims for negligence. Most important is that the UTPA provides for attorney fees when consumers win.
The moral of the story: signing those papers at closing might not be the end, if the buyers were induced to buy because of misconduct by the real estate agent (or the seller).
Jeff Merrick, Oregon Trial Attorney
Injury & Employment Law
503-665-4234
The above is not legal advice. I cannot give you sound advice without knowing more information. It is intended to raise some issues for you to discuss with your own lawyer.
