Got a call to resurvey an ALTA that I did 5 years ago .12 acre business park lot . 5 years ago the City purchased Right of way from the client and I reported it as an out from the parent tract and being part of the City street Right of Way . I get a call from the current Attorneys paralegal saying I have a gap from the property to the Street Right of Way . He says I should have shown the Right of way as an easement and not as fee simple , I say very plainly that he is very wrong in his decision and basically to pound sand . The deed says Right of Way Deed , but down in the body it states its fee simple.. Then I get a call from the Attorney and he tells me the same and that hes checked with other Attorneys in the firm and that it should just be an easement . I tell him I been working in this Town for 20 years + and assure him the City Attorney would have a problem with this take on their R/W deeds. He tells me to recombine the R/W back into the main parcel and report the acreage as such. I tell him in no uncertain terms will I do that . I call the City Attorney and get her to send a letter to the Attorney stating that the property has been sold fee simple to the City and that there R/W deeds are fee simple transfers, he then backs down and says its Ok the way it is ?
I can see me being a young Surveyor and being bullied by Mr. Attorney and transfer property illegally by the map , by combining the lots back together . I have had run ins with this guy before and this is my second victory from his legal advice to me the simple Surveyor . I still dont know where he came up with this? He got the old Attorney involved the Title Company etc . Fun day.
I really irked one of the partners in a large national law firm last week. His paralegal sent me their "preferred form of certification" which appeared to be the 1999 ALTA certification with the date changed to 2011, plus a long list of stuff that either was not relevant to this site or only a fool would sign. I wrote back and listed all of the problems with the certification, including not following the ALTA standards. I got a curt one sentence reply that he didn't appreciate my editorial comments, and never heard from him again. Jeez.
Bruce and djames, good for you for standing your ground.
:good:
Attorneys cause more trouble than they are worth.
Boy do you have a lot to learn!
I try and handle these people tactfully but sometimes they get the best of me too.
The attorneys can be handled, but there ought to be a law against paralegals. These twits think they are experts in everything, yet they couldn't find their own butts with both hands, a flashlight and two Boy Scouts with compasses!!
I had one tell me the other day that I need to change my drawing to show some data as a chart insted of the way I did it. The Attorney asked the paralegal why and she responded that it was "standard drafting practice". I asked her how many semester hours she had in drafting and was met with only silence. I told her that I had been doing this stuff for over 40 years and had NEVER seen what she wanted. The attorney said I did not need to change anything.Reeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyy!??
I've heard the expression that if you really want to screw up something you need a "Philadelphia lawyer."
I finally ran into one on an ALTA about 15 years ago. She about went nuts trying to understand how this little hick town where the nursing home was located didn't do everything precisely like she said things were always done in Philadelphia.
Number one problem was that a major portion of an addition to the main town had been "vacated" about 90 years earlier. The landowner at that time went on selling off tracts described as "formerly described as Lots 4 and 5, Block 3, Moonscape Addition to the City of Poseidon". He never transferred the areas originally intended to be streets and alleys, yet streets and alleys were constructed and utilized as if that section of the addition had never been vacated. The City, over time, had treated those areas identically as other streets and alleys, including the installation of all sorts of utility lines.
"Lady, I'm telling you there is, in fact, access to the property over a City-maintained street that really exists. It just doesn't exist on paper."
FIRST MISTAKE- dealing with a wantabe attorney called a paralegal.
DEAL straight with the Attorney, not his underlying, and if the Attorney does not have time, and you have the TITLE Commitment (which you must have in an ALTA/ACSM survey) get their attorney on the phone and explain the issue to them.
The Attorney CANNOT eat you and THEY are not a DAMN bit more professional than you. be nice, but firm, and when they say do this, say no problem.
WILL YOU BE KIND ENOUGH TO PUT THOSE INSTRUCTIONS IN WRITING?
SIC EM