In the last several years, we have seen more negligence claims relating to appraisals performed for tax purposes, especially appraisals for conservation easements, charitable deductions, and estate or gift tax. The IRS is particularly focused at this time on scrutinizing appraisals of conservation and preservation easements submitted for the purpose Read more…
Allegedly “Loose Lips” Cause a Big Claim. A recent and relatively big appraiser liability claim involved a commercial appraiser’s alleged breach of confidentiality. The damages paid to the plaintiff were significant. According to the plaintiff’s complaint (my recounting of the facts here is simplified), a lender had engaged the appraiser to perform Read more…
Can chief appraisers and other managerial appraisers at banks be sued for failing to fulfill their responsibilities with regard to oversight of the bank’s appraisal functions? Yes, they can and have been sued. The types of actions they have been named in range from fraud actions by private plaintiffs, to Read more…
One case that cannot be ignored on something called the Appraiser Law Blog is Gibson, et al. v. Credit Suisse, Cushman & Wakefield, et al. Even though the plaintiffs’ claims in my view just amount to buyer’s remorse following a deflated real estate price bubble, the case needs to be Read more…
I have described below the 8 biggest appraiser liability cases with which I am familiar that are currently pending in the U.S. These are cases that specifically name appraisers, appraisal firms or appraisal management companies as defendants. That’s an important distinction because the appraisal industry has been fortunate that only Read more…
Updated 5-1-12 In the current lending crisis that began in 2006, by my count, the FDIC has sued 163 residential appraisers or appraisal firms and publicly identified approximately 350 more appraisers as having delivered negligently inflated appraisals. All of these appraisers were singled out for residential appraisals. While the FDIC Read more…
In terms of alleged damages, the biggest case pending against any appraisal firm in the United States — actually, I feel safe writing the biggest case ever — is the lawsuit filed in federal court in Idaho by a group of property owners in four luxury developments in Idaho, Montana, Read more…
This post was updated on April 13, 2011 to reflect a subsequent order by Judge Lodge accepting and rejecting certain of the magistrate judge’s recommendations. See note at the bottom for the update. When I first saw the complaint filed by the plaintiffs in this lawsuit in federal court in Read more…
Commercial appraisers are more likely than residential appraisers to be in the position of considering whether to sue a client for unpaid appraisal fees because their fees for a single engagement are higher, sometimes $10,000 or more. Residential appraisers, however, occasionally also face the decision when unpaid fees have accumulated Read more…