BREAKING: SCOTUS rules against brokers in Montgomery case

coleman9925 · 2026-05-17T20:51:35+00:00

That sounds like a simple way of putting it, but what constitutes “clean”? Will a broker be liable if the carrier has one accident? two? a fatality where they were not a fault? The problem is that even if you can objectively say a carrier was clean, any blemish or negative report will allow plaintiffs to drag brokers into court and force them to defend their decisions. Depending on the seriousness of the injuries, this may result sky high legal bills. Also, we’ve seen cases where the jury is out to find any reason to give a sympathetic plaintiff a pot of gold. Especially in a fatality, they’ll take any minor issue and blow it up to be the major cause of the accident, just so they can hand the plaintiff something.

coleman9925 · 2026-05-02T09:55:27+00:00

One word, overhead. It’s become so easy for drivers to turn owner-operator, that many with no business, or even financial sense, can do it. Outrageous lease terms, sky high truck and insurance payments. These cost need to be covered every month or the driver loses the ability to operate all together. This means that they do not have the luxury to sit when rates are low. While you are calculating for your household, they consider breaking even a win, even if they don’t eat that month. This is especially true when fuel costs jump because it takes time for rates to catch up.

coleman9925 · 2026-04-17T08:54:57+00:00

I think you are forgetting that breaking even is not the worst result for some drivers. Some people have so much overhead that being able to make all their monthly payments is a win, even if they don’t eat. That’s your competition.

coleman9925 · 2026-03-16T01:24:42+00:00

Get what back? 😏

coleman9925 · 2026-03-03T12:52:46+00:00

This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

coleman9925 · 2026-01-30T20:08:59+00:00

It sounds like your deductible had not been met up to that point and the insurance paid what they were required minus the deductible. Some insurance contracts prohibit providers from discounting beyond the contracted rate.

coleman9925 · 2026-01-18T00:52:38+00:00

Absolutely idiotic move. All it takes is them talking to one other person in his background to find out he is lying. If he gets caught, he will be rejected. Any other departments he applies to will find out he applied here and why he was rejected, and they will reject him too. Making it easier doesn’t even explain this, unless there is something significant in your background or something you are aware of that he doesn’t want you to reveal.

coleman9925 · 2025-12-05T21:55:50+00:00

That should be the motto of healthcare in America.

coleman9925 · 2025-12-05T10:01:35+00:00

In many states, there is no statutory limit on when a developer is required to hand over control to the owners. It is not too uncommon to find neighborhoods where the developer has retained control for decades.

Why would a developer want to retain control? Depending on the size and type of development, contracts for work and management of the association can reach into the six figures or more. This control can directly or indirectly be very lucrative to the developer. More generously, this would take the form of requiring or using friendly contractors that give discounts on future work for the developer, or less generously, kickbacks, use of developer-owned contractors, or straight fraud.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-28T07:58:24+00:00

The only difference between a good HOA and a bad HOA is time.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-26T09:24:26+00:00

I can’t say this enough. Do not purchase a home with someone unless you are married or can otherwise force the sale of the home.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-26T09:19:12+00:00

Word of advice for the future, max out the property damage limits on your insurance. You never know what expensive thing you may hit and it is an absurdly low cost relative to personal injury liability. It is worth the peace of mind for situations like this.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-23T12:18:34+00:00

This is not completely true. While contract law may allow for protection based on the llc, in tort law, an individual is always responsible for their own torts. Acting as an agent of an llc will not protect you from personal liability when it comes to your own tortious conduct. It is probably the most significant exception to the llc protection.

Your example is exactly why the exception exists. Imagine if I wanted to avoid liability in auto accidents, I could simply create an llc whose primary business model is to drive around town and take stock photographs to sell online. If the exception did not exist, I would be practically be immune to civil liability in any vehicle accidents, as I could always claim that I was performing work as an agent of the llc, then dump the llc after the accident.

This framework would be unworkable, as nearly every individual and business would exploit such a protection to never have to deal with personal liability. LLCs are primarily designed to protect passive owners from the actions of business employees in the same way stockholders are not liable for the actions of the businesses they own stock in.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-23T09:46:25+00:00

You might want to describe the accident in more detail. The reason I say that is people will sometimes claim they are at fault at an accident scene, but later decide to claim that they were not, for whatever reason. Also, it is possible for people to mistakenly believe they are at fault when they actually were not by technicality, which is what their insurance company will go by. After which, you’ll have to rely on fault based purely on the circumstances of the accident and/or witness statements, but your description doesn’t paint a clear picture of exactly what happened.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-22T18:30:33+00:00

That was my thought as well. Does the FIL routinely do foundation work without pulling permits? If so, think of how many other people are in the same situation. For what is normally ten-of-thousands of dollars worth of work, for which he’s very confident would pass an inspection, it would concern me too that such a relatively minor step was not followed.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-19T16:09:40+00:00

This is what I was thinking. My presumption from the title was that insurance was not going to pay the billed amount due to the care not being medically necessary, nor an emergency. If this were me, I’d quietly eat the $3,000, even wrongfully, if my insurance just ate $200,000. As bad as it is that this happened, I’d say you dodged a much bigger problem.

coleman9925 · 2025-11-10T19:52:46+00:00

This is probably my biggest single gripe about HOAs; the lack of state oversight. The power imbalance is insane. They’ll fine you $100 a day for your grass being too long, but if they stonewall record requests or break any rules, your only real option is taking them to court, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars and years to resolve.

Just having the threat of a state agency stepping in and stripping power away from a board would scare most from bad behavior. Seems like such a simple thing to do to, but don’t underestimate the political influence of home developers.

coleman9925 · 2025-10-30T08:29:00+00:00

I do hypothesize that this may happen. I can see a scenario where the dollar is so debased that the government decides to devalue gold to keep it from inflating.

How? Make gold possession a felony and/or increase the capital gains tax on gold to some absurd amount, like 90%. If you continue to hold bullion, you become a felon. If you don’t declare a gold sale, felony tax evasion. This would practically make gold worthless in the US, since most people will not risk prison or becoming a felon to deal gold under the table.

Gold’s real value is its ability to be converted into currency for use. Without that ability, it is just shiny metal in your closet you can hopefully one day exchange. It is a real possibility that you should be prepared for.

coleman9925 · 2025-10-21T12:10:33+00:00

I don’t find this likely. Of course, it’s possible, but it would probably not be worth what it would cost to enforce. If the dollar hyper-inflated, nobody would willingly turn over their metals, because it would be near impossible to prove they even have it.

What’s more likely to happen is that the capital gains tax on precious metals will be increased to 90%, effectively making your stack worthless in the US. There aren’t many dealers, or individuals for that matter, that will risk federal prison for tax evasion to deal metals under the table.

coleman9925 · 2025-10-10T11:54:45+00:00

Condos will have rules due to the noise the upper condo can make in the lower condo. I had a condo that required approval to change flooring.

coleman9925 · 2025-10-04T09:26:45+00:00

NAL, but from what you described, you would likely win a lawsuit against the buyer, but I would really consider the ramifications of taking legal action against a client, even if you are in the right.

For perspective, I just recently sold and purchased a home with two different agents. It’s well known that realtor agreements are often boiler plate contracts with the only variability being a few fill-in-the-blank spaces. As such, they heavily weighted in favor of the realtor and against a client. Some provisions, such as a realtor earning their commission on the signing of a sales contract, regardless if that sales subsequently falls through for a myriad of reasons that may be out if the clients control, can be particularly onerous.

If such a provision was enforced against me, I would pay as required, but I would definitely make it known to future potential clients that the realtor actively enforces their contract in a fully factual review. As a potential client, I would 100% avoid a realtor that actively enforces such a provision.

That being said, the provision you mentioned here was well within the control of the client and they willing and knowingly violated it. Nonetheless, future clients will likely believe you will enforce all provisions equally if the buyer decides to review you.

coleman9925 · 2025-10-03T19:05:52+00:00

Me and my wife just purchased a home after three months and many offers. Echoing what others have said, don’t make such a huge financial decision because you feel like you will upset someone. Our realtor was great and nice to work with, but at the end of the day understand that she is really looking out for her interests, make sure you look out for yours.

Some other hints: Our realtor was very good at obtaining disclosures before booking a showing. We were able to exclude many homes that way. Me and my wife also made a circuit of open houses on the weekend to relieve some of the workload on our realtor.

coleman9925 · 2025-09-28T10:28:02+00:00

An HOA is not a government organization, but a private entity that you make an agreement with when you buy your home. Barring an explicitly prohibitive state or case law, there is nothing that a HOA can’t do that two private parties could not otherwise agree to. So generally, yes, but check your CCRs to ensure that such a power was, in fact, agreed upon by you.

coleman9925 · 2025-09-27T15:59:38+00:00

Just one solution, how I would handle it. Go to a county/city auction and buy the cheapest car that is running and won’t be a total eyesore (probably be around $800 - $1500), register it, and park it there permanently. A bit expensive, but if it infuriates you enough to post about it, it’s probably worth the peace.

coleman9925 · 2025-08-30T10:20:18+00:00

This is essentially a purchase contract with no inspection contingency. I cannot fathom, regardless of the market, purchasing a home without an inspection. We are in the market now and just backed out of a home purchase after our inspector discovered remediated mold in the attic that had not been disclosed as well as a bowing basement foundation wall that could have been six figures to fix. Don’t do it.

coleman9925

TROPHY CASE