Opinion of situation

Update - Decision handed down!

So there is a happy ending to the gong show. On Oct 10, we finally had our day in court. I explained my scenario with my texts and emails. My "friend" explained how I "deceived" him and he did not know about the renovation fee.

This morning the judge handed down her judgement and her reasoning. She believes from the series of texts back and forth, that he wanted the timeshare. There were numerous occasions of me asking him if he sent in the paperwork and him saying he will. She did not believe that he did not receive the notices from the resort informing owners of the renovation fee. At the time we made the agreement in Mar 2012, the transfer would have been easy. By May 2013 when he sent in the transfer, the conditions had changed and he was not prepared to fulfill the requirement of paying the renovation fee. His own negligence in procrastinating can not be used as an excuse as it is his own doing that the new conditions exist.

She did say I needed to mitigate my losses. As the original cancellation deadline has long passed, the resort offered a new deadline and higher cancellation fee of $3800 from $3100 in Nov 2013. She awarded me the $3800 cancellation plus the 2014 MF, filing costs, some legal costs plus interest. All in, just under $6000 plus he has to pay his legal costs for his semi-paralegal agent who represented him. Overall I think he will be out of pocket $7,000 but still remains defiant that I conned him.

I am so surprised she awarded me that much as I was expecting she would just award me the original cancellation fee of $3100 but my theory is that she saw how much I tried over 14 months to affect the transfer and assist him. Everything that happened was due to his procrastination and if he had done it in Mar 2012 when we signed the document, we would not be in court at all. I think she saw threw his excuses and "threw the book" at him to the extent she could without appearing punitive.

In the interm, I joined the legal group fighting the renovation in the Canadian section against Northwynd and it appears that the Northwynd case might be crumbling and the reno fee might be struck down. They did file a small claim against me for the renovation fee, 2014 fees and interest but have not yet served me with the documents.

All in all, today was a fantastic day that I had been waiting for since this all begin, but it is a bit sad that my "friend" has no remorse and still thinks in his own mind that I deceived him. He is the poor victim that did not "get the notice from the resort" and I took advantage of him after telling him over and over again all along the way as this played out about the special assessment as he "didn't understand what that meant".

Glad it all finally worked out in your a favor. Sad you lost a friend, though.

topmom101 said:

Glad it all finally worked out in your a favor. Sad you lost a friend, though.

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Thanks. Not sure I am too sad about losing a "friend" like that. It has always been "interesting" being friends with him and I'm not really sorry to part ways. Over the past 20 years he has done many questionable things that I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, making excuses for him and I thought he would grow out of, but it has not happened. I'm tired of saving his butt all the time and time for him to man up.

Quadmaniac

Sorry but I am not able to support you on this. If the facts are as stated then \I agree your friend owes you as you purchased this in good faith but I followed your comments on the thread that covered this fiasco (yes I'm involved) and this is you a quote from you on January 8, 2013. Sorry I don't know how it comes out blue to show it's a direct quote.

(posted by quadmaniac Jan 2013)

I called and they are planning on bringing the assessment out in about April, so I am going to get rid of my last one before that. In fact I am going to try to give it away on Kijiji pretty quick here for free.

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You actively stated you were trying to give away weeks before the assessment. So if not to this person you were willing to let others deal with this fiasco and keep your conscience clear by saying buyer beware. I believe in karma as well and cannot sell or give away anything that I know is defective. You almost gloated about how you got rid of all your weeks to people that were obviously unsuspecting.

I don't doubt that you have been good to people on TUG but admit you knew something was coming down and you gave these units to "innocent victims" who did not have the same knowledge. If you can live with that fine but don't act like you were always a good guy. I have a long memory and when I saw what you planned to do in Jan 13 it did not match up to my level of ethical behavior.

From the moment you posted that on this forum I feel I learned a lot about you. Now you come and want our sympathy (which you clearly got from the judge) and I for one cannot give it to you.

Sorry for my honest thoughts

Joan

Tacoma said:

Quadmaniac

Sorry but I am not able to support you on this. If the facts are as stated then \I agree your friend owes you as you purchased this in good faith but I followed your comments on the thread that covered this fiasco (yes I'm involved) and this is you a quote from you on January 8, 2013. Sorry I don't know how it comes out blue to show it's a direct quote.

I called and they are planning on bringing the assessment out in about April, so I am going to get rid of my last one before that. In fact I am going to try to give it away on Kijiji pretty quick here for free. (posted by quadmaniac Jan 2013)

You actively stated you were trying to give away weeks before the assessment. So if not to this person you were willing to let others deal with this fiasco and keep your conscience clear by saying buyer beware. I believe in karma as well and cannot sell or give away anything that I know is defective. You almost gloated about how you got rid of all your weeks to people that were obviously unsuspecting.

I don't doubt that you have been good to people on TUG but admit you knew something was coming down and you gave these units to "innocent victims" who did not have the same knowledge. If you can live with that fine but don't act like you were always a good guy. I have a long memory and when I saw what you planned to do in Jan 13 it did not match up to my level of ethical behavior.

From the moment you posted that on this forum I feel I learned a lot about you. Now you come and want our sympathy (which you clearly got from the judge) and I for one cannot give it to you.

Sorry for my honest thoughts

Joan

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I don't recall if I got rid of mine or not by that time BUT by December 2012, there would not be ANY way to transfer the deed without the purchaser signing an acknowledgement of the upcoming assessment. This was part of the new transfer process that was implemented ahead of the announcement by the resort transfer department.

With or without the disclosure statement I would have still disclosed the upcoming assessment and if I gave the impression that I wasn't going to tell someone, then I apologize for that impression. If I am disclosing this and a purchaser is willing to take it, how is that unethical ? There was no way to know that it was going to turn into the fiasco that it has become as we did not have the full details till April 2013.

I was getting rid of them as I was switching my portfolio to get better trading power for where I wanted to go, Hawaii, based on my travel desires. If I am not disclosing what I know about the assessment, then that is a different story. I just knew that I was switching over to Marriott and Starwood by June 2012 so I decided to get rid of all my Fairmonts. Hindsight is 20/20

I think you have it wrong, I am not asking for sympathy at all. An impartial judge made an assessment based on the facts presented and how it relates to previous cases and decisions. It was decided based on case law and the evidence presented, not by sympathy, that's not how cases are decided.

Congrats on winning the Judgment in court. But Judgments are not self-enforcing.

If he doesn't send a check, you must act to collect:
-- Record the Judgment in any county where he owns property so it acts as a lien;
-- If you know where he banks, you can get an order to attach his accounts;
-- If you know where he works, you can try to garnish his wages; and
-- If he has any visible personal property, you can get an order to levy on those.
-- Or hire a collections attorney whose fees would be deducted from any recovery.
.

Talent312 said:

Congrats on winning the Judgment in court. But Judgments are not self-enforcing.

If he doesn't send a check, you must act to collect:
-- Record the Judgment in any county where he owns property so it acts as a lien;
-- If you know where he banks, you can get an order to attach his accounts;
-- If you know where he works, you can try to garnish his wages; and
-- If he has any visible personal property, you can get an order to levy on those.
-- Or hire a collections attorney whose fees would be deducted from any recovery.
.

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I am aware that winning is only part of the process. I know where he lives and his office. If he does not pay I will send in a bailiff into his office and have them seize things.