By Keith Swift, PhD
InterNACHI member/InterNACHI Report Writing Consultant
President, Porter Valley Software
As this year draws to a close, and before we begin what I hope will be a happy,
healthy, and prosperous New Year for inspectors everywhere, I want to summarize
my views on avoiding litigation. As I have documented in numerous articles, inspectors
are being terrorized by unscrupulous clients and their attorneys, aided by a judicial
system that has been corrupted by greed. This sad state of affairs has been corroborated
by the actual testimony of several attorneys, who have confirmed that inspectors
are commonly sued when they’ve done everything right and nothing wrong. But if
anyone doubts this, I have the indisputable evidence of attorneys who have lied,
intentionally omitted evidence, or colluded in other ways to conceal the truth,
which I’ll be happy to share at the upcoming conference in February. Our judicial
system has literally made a mockery of justice. In fact, in Who’s Looking Out
For You? Bill O’Reilly characterizes the legal system as a “cesspool of corruption,”
and although I’m not an O’Reilly fan there is little doubt that he is right. Regardless,
I do happen to be a fan of New York attorney Philip K. Howard, who agues convincingly
in The Death of Common Sense that in “the decades since World War 11, we have
constructed a system of regulatory law that basically outlaws common sense.” And
please believe me when I tell you that I have no interest in writing about litigation,
never have, and don’t want to. I have been victimized, forced to learn first-hand
how corrupt the system has become, and endured the indignation of watching innocent
inspectors being led like lambs to the slaughter, all because of greed and a total
disregard for truth and justice. In the absence of a concerted campaign for tort
reform, I cannot offer any hope, and can only repeat what I said in my first published
article on the subject: “there are terrorists among us.” Of course, I will continue
to champion inspectors and to tell the truth. I understand of course that truth
is relative, and subject to the tests of tradition, numbers, and authority, but
this is what I believe to be true: if you’re not using a computerized report-writer,
you’re a sitting duck; you are going to be sued, it’s just a matter of time; the
lawsuit will be bloated with legalese, which only attorneys with no respect for
the common tongue pretend to understand, but which will make you sound like a
serial killer; the attorneys on both sides will see that the suit drags on long
enough to make it worth their while; the insurance carrier can be expected to
settle the suit before it ever gets to court; your policy is likely to be cancelled;
your premium and those of every other inspector will certainly go up; and you’ll
begin to appreciate why there are so many sick jokes about attorneys. This week,
business has been slow and I’ve spent a lot of time polishing my vintage Jaguar,
but I’ve already heard from two inspectors, who’ve received demand letters threatening
them with lawsuits. In both instances, I was privileged to review the documentation,
and given permission to share their stories, and can attest that both inspectors
are indisputably innocent, but both will likely be bullied into paying a legal
ransom or face a lawsuit, a lawsuit that will certainly cost them, one way or
another. Regardless, I remain optimistic. Americans are idealistic and passionate
about freedom, and inspectors are rare individuals who are not likely to take
a whipping for too much longer, and certainly not from blue-collar terrorists.
God bless America.
