Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partner Jill J. Ormond and Associate Steven D. Crocchi prevailed on a summary judgment motion on behalf of a title agency in a negligence and fraud action.
The plaintiff purchased a remote and vacant parcel of land in Yuma, Arizona with the hopes of leasing the property to a solar company to use as a solar farm. The plaintiff had no previous experience leasing property to use as a solar farm. When the plaintiff purchased the property, the title agency recorded the relevant warranty deeds. The plaintiff noticed certain typos in the warranty deed and requested that the title agency correct the alleged typos. The title agency did so and recorded a corrected warranty deed.
The plaintiff believed more needed to be done to correct the warranty deed and continued to insist that a new warranty deed be recorded. Meanwhile, despite having title to the property, the plaintiff did not attempt to lease the property to solar companies. Instead, several months later, the plaintiff sued the title agency for negligence and fraud.
After filing the lawsuit, the plaintiff—for the first time—enlisted his brother to locate solar companies to lease the property. The plaintiff’s brother completed a handful of online forms over a one-month period. None of these solar companies were interested in leasing the property, and one went so far as to say the property was too remote to work as a solar farm. The plaintiff did not make any additional attempts to lease the property other than this one-month period.
The Gordon & Rees team moved for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiff had no evidence of damages, that any claimed damages were speculative and uncertain, and that the plaintiff’s damages were caused by his own failure to make efforts to lease the property both before and after the lawsuit was filed. Following oral argument, the trial court agreed and granted the title agency’s motion for summary judgment.