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A Pennsylvania woman has appealed to the state Supreme Court in her suit against a home seller and real estate agent who failed to disclose that a murder-suicide had taken place in the home she purchased.
When Janet Milliken, 59, moved from California after her husband died, she had hoped to start a new life with her two teenage children in Pennsylvania near her family.
She bought a home in Thornton, Pa., for $610,000 in June 2007. She learned a few weeks after she moved in from a next-door neighbor that a murder-suicide had occurred the year before in her home.
She sued the seller and the real estate agent for fraud and misrepresentation, saying they made a "deliberate choice not to disclose the home's recent past," according to a court document.
The trial judge granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, saying state law does not require agents to disclose such events.
Then in December 2012, a panel of the state appeals court affirmed that decision, though with a nearly split decision.
The matter dates back to Feb. 11. 2006, when a previous homeowner, Konstantinos Koumboulis, allegedly shot and killed his wife, then shot himself in the master bedroom.
Joseph and Kathleen Jacono had bought the home Oct. 31, 2006, knowing of the murder-suicide, for $450,000. They later sold it to Milliken, who wants the transaction rescinded and her money back.
Filing a petition to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania last week with the hope of arguing the case further, the attorney for Milliken, Tim Rayne, said they "hope to have Pennsylvania recognize that having a horrific event occur within a property can be just as damaging and troubling to a future homeowner as a physical defect, or perhaps even more so."
"Having a gunshot murder-suicide committed within the home is much more devastating than having a small leak concealed by the previous homeowner," Rayne said. "Physical defects can be fixed. Troubling events that could and did occur in this home could never go away."
Rayne said sellers should be required to disclose troubling events "at least for some period of time."
Abraham Reich, the attorney for the Jaconos and their agent with Re/Max, said, "The majority, en banc [full-court] opinion of the Superior Court was well reasoned and consistent with years of industry practice in Pennsylvania.
"While the issue is interesting, the number of times it comes up does not warrant Supreme Court review," Reich said. "The Superior Court opinion provides guidance for any real estate transaction in the future and puts to rest the uncertainty of whether a seller has a duty to disclose a murder-suicide or any other type 'psychological damage.' In my opinion, the result is a good one."
Rayne said Milliken, 59, was "disturbed" when she learned of her home's history from a neighbor. "As she was struggling what and if to tell the kids," he said, her children's friends visited the home for Halloween and told the children about the murder-suicide.
"They were very upset upon learning about it and disturbed about the whole situation," Rayne said.
"They were dealing with the death of a father and husband and wanted to move closer to family, and then this happened to them," he said. "It was a tragedy all around."
Rayne said Milliken and her children are still living in the home. He said they would prefer to move out of the home but can't afford to do so without selling it.
"They feel that if they sold it, through good conscience they would have to disclose," Rayne said, "so it would negatively impact the value."
A Pennsylvania woman has appealed to the state Supreme Court in her suit against a home seller
and real estate agent who failed to disclose that a murder-suicide had taken place in the home she purchased.
What? She didn't have the foresight to ask this common and oh so basic question about the property?
Is 'heinous or notorious crime" not on the standard disclosure sheet?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational
What? She didn't have the foresight to ask this common and oh so basic question about the property?
Is 'heinous or notorious crime" not on the standard disclosure sheet?
Not in our state. At the end of the long list of questions is "Are there any other existing material defects affecting the property that a prospective buyer should know about?". Being the scene of a murder or other
crime is not a material defect.
What kind of an idiot would divulge that information to children? Not only her children but her kids' friends. What purpose did that serve ? Some people have cotton candy in the space where a brain should be.
That's going to be ridiculous if she wins because then they would have to open it up to ALL deaths within the home, and there are many deaths that occur naturally in a home. More people die at home than they do in hospitals. That's a huge can of worms.
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She came from CA where disclosure of the death is legally required. Another clear cut case where laws are different from state to state and why we ask posters where they are located.
What leads you to make this leap from the "heinous or notorious" level (my phrase)...
of a murder-suicide crime to common deaths?
Because once this gets accepted, then someone else will sue saying they're upset Grandpa died a slow death from cancer or something else "heinous" like that. It's going to become subjective and it should be cut and dry. If the death affects the house, disclose it. If it doesn't you don't.
What kind of an idiot would divulge that information to children? Not only her children but her kids' friends. What purpose did that serve ? Some people have cotton candy in the space where a brain should be.
She didnt, the kids friends told them.
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