Sadd
CHARLESTON - A Charleston law firm and one of its attorneys are named as co-defendants in a breach-of-contract lawsuit by a New Jersey company accusing them of not forwarding proceeds from the sale of a foreclosed property in Kanawha County.
Lewis, Glasser, Casey and Rollins PLLC and Mark A. Sadd are named in a three-count lawsuit filed by PHH Mortgage Corp. in U.S. District Court. In their complaint filed on Nov. 4, the Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based company that specializes in retail residential mortgage lending accuses Lewis Glasser, and Sadd of failing to timely forward nearly $80,000 in proceeds from a St. Albans property sold in foreclosure before the sale was later disputed.
According to the suit, Riverside Trustee Company sold property on Woodhill Place in St. Albans to Kathy I. Stepp on Oct. 2, 2007. The sale came after Riverside, the substitute trustee of property, foreclosed on the property.
Stepp bought it for $88,386.83, and was to remit PHH all but $1,239.10. After placing $10,000 in escrow the day of the sale, the amount Stepp owed to PHH was reduced to $78,386.83.
Nine days later, Riverside, in order to facilitate the closing, forwarded a trust deed to Lewis Casey which was assigned to Sadd to handle. The agreement, records show, called for Sadd "to forward to PHH the Net Settlement Proceeds from the trustee foreclosure sale within a specified period of time after receiving the Net Settlement Proceeds or else to immediately return the Trustee's Deed to the Trustee."
On Nov. 2, 2007, Sadd was able to close on the property with Stepp. Three days later, he recorded a trustee's deed with the Kanawha County Clerk's Office.
However, PHH alleges that neither Sadd nor Lewis Casey forwarded the net proceeds of the closing, $77,147.73, to them. On Nov 16, the closing became embroiled in a dispute when Audrey Ross filed both a notice of Lis Pendens with the County Clerk, and a collateral lawsuit in Kanawha Circuit Court "challenging the validity of the trustee foreclosure sale."
Lewis Casey's and Sadd's failure to timely remit them the proceeds of the closing, PHH alleges, caused them to incur additional expenses to defend against Ross' suit. Along with breach of contract, PHH makes claims against Lewis Casey, and Sadd for breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence.
In addition to damages of $77,147.73, PHH seeks interest starting from Nov. 5, 2007, and court costs and attorney fees for both this, and the Ross suit. They are represented by R. Terrance Rodgers with the Charleston law firm of Allen, Guthrie and Thomas.
The case is assigned to Magistrate Judge Mary E. Stanley.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, case number 09-cv-1212