Lydia Afeman

Review of Lugenbuhl, wheaton, peck, rank...

I reached out to Kris Redmann, in September/Octobe...

I reached out to Kris Redmann, in September/October of 2014, to inquire if there was an experienced real estate attorney in his Houston office who could review some contracts. I needed a real estate attorney to guide me through a real estate transaction with a new boutique home builder. There was a contract to sell the builder a lot that I owned. Also an agreement to purchase a lot from the same builder and a building contract to build my house with two rentals units.

Redmann knew I had been involved in two lengthy and costly lawsuits. The suits were filed due to a realtor who failed to properly represent me in the purchase of property in March of 2012. Unbeknownst to me, the realtor worked for a broker who had a reputation of underhanded dealings in the Houston real estate market. Moreover, the attorneys I retained were involved in a multi-million-dollar town home development with the broker but failed to disclose the conflicts when I retained them.

Therefore, Redmann knew that I wanted a knowledgeable attorney to handle this transaction, someone trustworthy and competent. Of course, every client wants this, but he knew my particular circumstances. But I specifically told him I never wanted to see the inside of another courtroom as long as I lived. Therefore he referred me to Ron Hood an attorney in their Houston office to review the contracts.

Before I retained Hood he assured me he could review the contracts and keep me out of harm s way. He told me I was in good hands and requested I email him the contracts to review a week prior to our meeting. He told me he was well versed in construction law and had won several large cases.

Unfortunately, Hood should have instructed me not to execute the agreement to purchase the land from the builder or sign the building contract. I was unaware there were issues with both contracts at the time he reviewed them. There is supporting documentation that Hood failed to request that would have been crucial for a thorough review. The documents are available in public record so he should have looked them up or requested a copy from the builder.

Furthermore the building contract lacked important details; it was riddled with a hodge-podge of inflated fees lumped together, and it was extremely vague. I didn't realize how bad it was written until my architects complained that the cost breakdowns, didn't make sense to them. Also he failed to change the arbitration clause to mediation. Therefore I was forced to file a lawsuit, when the builder refused to go to "free" mediation, that my attorney suggested.

As a result I've spent over $50,000 in legal fees and have numerous unrecoverable damages. I retained an attorney to file the suit in order to force the builder to settle out of court. He informed me while preparing for our hearing on June 17, 2017, that Hood should have reviewed the transactional documents and the contract shouldn't have been signed.

When I called Redmann to discuss his helping me cover the legal fees I was having to incur he told me he couldn't help me. Therefore I give this firm a 1 star.