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What Are We Asking For?
Our Prayer for Relief in our Third Amended Answer of May 2007 may be unofficially summarized as follows, and our requests have not changed:
- Return of the $6,300 we paid to Paul Stickney/Windermere for Paul Stickney's "services."
- Repayment for emergency repairs.
- Repair of the damage to our home, bringing it up to the
standard promised by Stickney's company, Trust Me
Construction (footnote). This should be done by putting the budget requested by Empire Remodeling (our LICENSED, BONDED, and INSURED remodeling contractor of choice) into an escrow account. Whatever money is unused at the end of the job will be returned. We are offering free and open access to the job while in progress. No, we are not trying to enrich ourselves unjustly by exaggerating the damage done and pocketing left-over money. We are also requesting payment of any charges that may be associated with such an escrow account arrangement.
- Payment of all income tax, sales tax, and employment taxes TMC owes the government.
- Moving, storage, and rental expenses while repairs are taking place.
- Repayment of financial losses, including overpayments made to TMC, losses of investments and interest and fees paid on debts undertaken to pay excessive renovation costs and legal expenses, expense of liquidating non-liquid assets (including tax penalties), attorney fees and other legal expenses, office expenses, Consumer Protection Act penalties where applicable, loss of use and quiet enjoyment of sections of the house, and sundry other financial damages.
- We will not agree to sign any statement we believe to be untrue, nor will we agree to fall silent on the many public policy issues we encountered during the course of this action.
We can now put numbers to these claims:
| Item |
Amount |
| Stickney/Windermere's fee |
$6,300.00 |
| TMC overpayment |
$70,299.63 |
| Unpaid Sales Tax on TMC work |
$3,278.74 |
| Washington State Sales Tax Penalty 50% |
$1,639.37 |
| TMC outstanding liabilities not including VEMIS |
$859.19 |
| Permit indemnification |
? |
| Rent for Jan-May 10 2005 |
$6,500.00 |
| Renter insurance for Jan-May 10 2005 |
$180.33 |
| Extended mortgage rate lock-in (March 2005) |
$700.00 |
| Settlement/mortgage charges for ARM |
$2,489.10 |
| Closing costs on 2nd mortgage |
$620.00 |
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| Emergency repairs as of August 2008* |
$3,741.51 |
| Loss of use and quiet enjoyment of 50% of living space calculated by mortgage interest paid* |
$106,411.80 |
| Mark's wage claim 18 days of vacation on case* |
$6,480.00 |
| Cost of additional debt as of August, 2008* |
$51,267.55 |
| Legal expenses/experts/consultants* ** |
$42,106.70 |
| Lawyer advice and other legal expenses when DeCourseys were pro se** |
$19,218.01 |
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| Budget for full repair of the house, including repair of structural damage (escrowed - funds not used will be returned) |
$525,289.78 |
| Sales tax on Empire fixes |
$46,225.50 |
| Administration of escrow account |
? |
| Budget for rental residence during 12 mo. of home repairs (escrowed - funds not used will be returned) |
$33,372.00 |
| Attorney fees for representation by Lane Powell — much increased by Windermere's stalling and quasi-obstruction* ** |
$300,000.00 |
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| Total |
$1,524,895.87 |
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| Net total award |
$1,226,979.21 |
* These numbers as of July, 2008, and increment with time
** Did DeCourseys "waive" their right to attorney fees? See upcoming article, "Judges Who Give Legal Advice from the Bench - and Then Rule They've Waived Their Right to Attorney Fees Even though You Don't Have an Attorney - Can Sure Ruin Your Day" on our Truth in Court website, now under constructon. Or secure a video copy of our August 23, 2007 hearing in the Superior Court in Seattle.
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