IMHO I was (very definitely, IMHO) conned by a realtor in Bangor, Maine…well…he and I both know what he did. But I guess I have to preface everything with IMHO or “alleged”.

For the record, I took it up with an NAR”s “Ethics” committee who put a gag order on ME, but then illegally forwarded every one of my private emails that I wrote to them—to the accused realtors.

Except, the accused were too computer illiterate to figure out that the emails were only forwarded by the phony “ethics” committee. So they tried to sue ME for harrassment.

(Ayuh….)

But that’s Bangor, Maine. Not much of a gene pool up there, I guess.

Anyhow, the realtor is now running for office, so now he IS a public figure.

http://tinyurl.com/34h298

That’s part of the bigger problem. I think I’ll write a post about Brokers and Agents and what happens if one agent says “bad property” at the same time another is talking a buyer into buying it. Here we have Designated Agency (Florida does not) which helps a little. In WA, the agent vs. the brokerage represents the client to some degree and they can have competing influences. Not so for many States.

Florida is one of the few states that has totally outlawed Dual Agency about ten years ago. Which means they are not supposed to HAVE an opinion at all when acting in TB capacity. So hard to not have an opinion when you’ve already posted that opinion on a blog.

Agency is a tricky business and I don’t talk about it much because it makes people’s heads hurt. But the real answer is Lucas when acting as a TB in Florida is not “allowed” to have an opinion under Agency Laws there.

Girard College is a grossly misunderstood case. You should read the final ruling on that one. The Judge hung his hat on the publicity of the case causing the private institution to become a public place like a park or restaurant. When the case itself causes the shift from private to public, you know they are looking to sway in one direction, without setting a future precedent.

I do agree that Lucas should have left himself a little leg room by saying “didn’t X go bankrupt back in the 80s?” Kind of leaving the door open to the possibility that things went bad, but not to full bankruptcy status.

Didn’t Trump have this same complaint against Rosie O’Donnell?

I remember years ago an attorney older than me looked at me blankly when I mentioned Roe v. Wade. Attorneys don’t tend to keep up on the cases outside their area of practice.

There’s a very famous case where the ruling was decided based on the publicity of the case itself conveying “a public character” to the private defendent. Apparently “public” entities and people don’t enjoy the same rights as private citizens.