State v. Kaiser

161 Wash. App. 705
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided March 21, 2011·No. Nos. 63111-0-I; 63616-2-I·Published·Cited by 38 cases

Opinion

Schindler, J.

¶1 — Joseph Kaiser, doing business as G. Hobus Investments LLC, Bobo Buys Real Estate LLC, Pre Flop LLC, and Unclaimed Funds Inc. (collectively Kaiser), preyed on property owners facing a tax foreclosure by falsely offering to help save the property from foreclosure if the owner agreed to enter into an agreement giving Kaiser an ownership interest in the property. The attorney general on behalf of the State of Washington filed an enforcement action against Kaiser alleging violation of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), chapter 19.86 RCW, and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Kaiser appeals the decision on partial summary judgment that as a matter of law he violated the CPA by soliciting property owners facing tax foreclosure with false promises to help save their property [709] or home, inducing property owners to enter into unconscionable and unfair agreements giving Kaiser ownership or control of their property, intercepting tax funds that should have been paid to the property owners, using a power of attorney and retaining attorneys to collect tax overage funds, acting as both a trustee and beneficiary in land trust deals, and falsely soliciting and inducing former property owners to enter into agreements to obtain restitution funds. Kaiser also claims the trial court erred in allowing testimony contradicting the terms of the agreements entered into by the homeowners, in concluding that the partial interest deal agreements violated the CPA, and in failing to address whether four other real estate transactions affect the public interest in violation of the CPA. We reject Kaiser’s arguments on appeal and affirm the partial summary judgment order, the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, and entry of the injunctive relief order.

FACTS

¶2 The facts are not in dispute. Between 1998 and 2008, Joseph Kaiser and his partners, Walter Scamehorn, Arliss Morgan, and Tina Worthey, doing business as Fiscal Dynamics Inc., Cumulative LLC, Dove Realty Inc., Northwest Assets Inc., G. Hobus Investments, Bobo Buys Real Estate, and Pre Flop engaged in approximately 400 transactions with property owners facing tax foreclosure.

Solicitations

¶3 Kaiser and his partners sent thousands of letters and postcards to property owners who had received a certificate of tax delinquency. The solicitations offered to act on the owner’s behalf to “help them keep their property” or “keep their home,” and falsely claimed that they had successfully prevented foreclosure.

¶4 For example, in the “Equalizer” letter, Kaiser falsely claims that he will act on the owner’s behalf, carefully explain the available options, and help “stop foreclosure and [710] save your property.”1 Another series of letters describes his partner Tina Worthey as “Wonder Woman” and falsely claims she will act on the property owner’s behalf to get them out of trouble because she lost her own home in foreclosure and was “an experienced foreclosure professional.”

¶5 The “Missed Opportunity,” “Can You Believe It” solicitations and “Why This Postcard?” also falsely claim that Kaiser and his partners will “help the owner keep their home” and prevent foreclosure “like it never happened in the first place,” and they “will help owners by fixing real estate problems and figure out solutions to their unpaid taxes.” Kaiser also sent hundreds of postcards suggesting that Kaiser and his partners are “in the business of assisting” property owners and warns that other investors will come “knocking on your door trying to steal your property.”

¶6 If a property owner contacted Kaiser or his partners in response to the solicitations, the property owner was induced to enter into one of two transactions that Kaiser referred to as an “overage play” agreement, or a “partial interest deal” or “partnering up” agreement.

Overage Play Scheme

¶7 When a property owner does not pay taxes the county issues a certificate of delinquency to the record property owner. If the taxes remain unpaid, the county proceeds with a tax foreclosure sale. After deducting the delinquent taxes and fees from the sale, the remaining or “overage” amount is paid to the record owner at the time the certificate of delinquency was issued.

¶8 In the overage play scheme, Kaiser offers to help the property owner avoid foreclosure. Kaiser typically pays the property owners $100 to $500 and induces the owner to enter into an agreement that gives Kaiser title to the [711] property.2 Kaiser does not tell the property owners that he intends to allow the tax sale to go forward.

¶9 As part of the overage play agreement, a property owner signs a number of documents, including (1) a purchase and sale agreement, (2) a quitclaim deed, (3) a seller acknowledgement, and (4) a power of attorney to Kaiser. After obtaining title to the property, instead of taking steps to avoid foreclosure, Kaiser allowed the property to go to a tax sale and either kept the entire overage amount or a percentage of the overage.

¶10 In response to several lawsuits challenging Kaiser’s right to receive the overage amount after the tax sale, Kaiser continuously updated and added to the forms that he and his partners used in the overage play transactions in order to remove any contractual defenses and prevent the courts from “unwinding]” his transactions. For example, on the seller acknowledgement form, Kaiser had the property owner agree that the transaction was “Not A Loan,” “Fully Informed,” and “Not Under Duress.” Kaiser also later added an “Agreement to Irrevocably Assign Overage Funds” to him.

¶11 There is no dispute that Kaiser was not the record owner of the property when the county issued the certificate of delinquency. Therefore, in order to collect the overage, Kaiser had the owner sign a notarized form that allowed him to obtain a power of attorney. Using the power of attorney, Kaiser was able to apply for the overage on behalf of the record owner. Kaiser also retained lawyers to represent the record owners. The lawyers would apply for the overage funds on behalf of the owner. But based on the agreement between the property owners and Kaiser, the attorney would pay Kaiser the overage funds.

¶12 Overages 10 times greater than Kaiser’s purchase price were normal. Kaiser’s partner Scamehorn estimated that 50 to 80 percent of the overage play transactions [712] generated overages greater than $5,000 at the tax sale, with only 10 to 20 percent not generating any overage. Kaiser admits that if the property owners knew about the overage, they would never agree to allow him to collect it. Accordingly, Kaiser never fully explained the overage addendum to the property owners and any disclosure about the overage is buried in other contractual boilerplate.

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State v. Kaiser, 161 Wash. App. 705 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

161 Wash. App. 705 (State v. Kaiser) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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