Agent Trends, Consumerism, News, REALonomics
Remember Marty Ummel?
April 17, 2008 by REALonomics · 3 Comments
Do you remember this woman? She is the one who filed a lawsuit against a RE/Max agent named Michael Little who she and her husband accused of selling them a $1.2 million home they say was worth substantially less.
See our previous posts entitled Ummel’s Talk, You Decide and Ummels VS Re/Max.
Marty Ummel appeared on national television news programs such as the Today show claiming that she and her husband, Vernon, were deceived by Little in the process of making their purchase.
A jury of twelve (10 women, 2 men) were not convinced and delivered a unanimous decision after a quick two hour deliberation declaring that Little did not breach his duties and was not negligent in his actions on behalf of the Ummels.
Wendi Brick, jury forewoman, explained the verdict by saying, “We felt that yes, he had acted on their behalf, and we felt he met his fiduciary duties as defined…In any kind of purchase, especially one that big – and most of us have had our own situations we’d been through – the bottom line really stops with you. Whose final responsibility is it to sign a contract? It’s yours…”
Little described his feelings by saying, “I feel incredibly relieved and vindicated…it has been more than two years of quite problematic times for me, and I’m happy to get it behind me.”
Related posts:
Marty Ummel sued her agent because he didn’t give her all the comparable sales data. The jury said that was not a violation of law. Indeed, the standards of practice and Code of Ethics of the National Association of Realtors does not require its’ agents to give ‘comps’ to buyers. The only national association of real estate agents that does require that by their code of ethics is the National Assoication of Exclusive Buyer Agents. (NAEBA.ORG) Those agents are also members of NAR but their organizations standards are somewhat higher so using one of their members may help protect a buyer while relying on the law or NAR’s ethics code will not.
Paul Howard
Did anyone go on the “Today” show to explain the farce now that Little, (and realtors in general), had been humiliated in front of millions of people?