Hi-

I did a bpo exterior a few weeks ago and I have no other issues with this bpo company but received an email with a court declaration attached for me to sign, prepared by an attorney for a BK case and the bpo co. asking me to sign and return it to them.

The doc states I did the bpo on this date, this value,etc asks for my years in biz, license #, that I agree to come to court and it's pretty basic 2 page court doc.

I think the fee is the standard $50 exterior w/ company.

Here are my thoughts and would love input from others that have had similar requests and how you handled it.

When I make a regular sale/listing commission and thousands of dollars for a transaction I am extremely diligent and never touch a paper without considering not just what it means to a client/ transaction/etc. but to myself and the office I work in. I'm always prepared to walk away from something that isn't right or even if it's right and I don't like open liability, etc. to myself. At the end of the day- I sleep like a baby.

I have an issue being expected to sign an attorney requested court document especially since I would have to have MY attorney look at it and pay him..?????

I said I wasn't willing to sign anything and I might have shot myself in the foot with the company, I hope not. I'm disappointed and feel that if they require that type of involvement in a bpo, that should be a special type of arrangement that we can opt in or out of up front. The bpo co. might not have known up front but I was surprised at the request.

I am in the process of getting my brokers license so I can handle the bpo part of my biz through that. My broker is awesome and it's a great office but she isn't the least bit interested in bpo's because she's worried about the liability.
If I showed her the doc ( I wouldn't sign anything that was part of a lawsuit of any kind without running it by the managing broker) she'd pull the plug on the bpo's.

I guess I'm ranting a little here but would love the input of the forum and their thoughts on this and if they have encountered this, what they did or didn't do.

Thanks guys!

I've had a couple calls directly from the BK office asking me to sign. I ignored both and never heard back. There are a couple threads on this board with more details although I dont think they were approached directly from the bpo company.

I signed a declaration for a lender to use one of my BPOs to ask for relief from stay in a BK case. Some corrections were made to the declaration before I signed it. It is unlikely that you will be called as a witness to appear in BK court.

Thanks for the replies!

I think it's a draw the line in the sand issue for me on this.

Living in "SueMeCalifornia" I think the report itself is enough liability for me.

Thank you again for replying- I got the email this am and was rattled. I like the bpo co. and turning down signing the docs might hurt me with them , I'll just hope it doesn't and keep going.

Thanks again!

From a BPO company side.

I have not yet nor ever seen an agent deactivated for not wanting to go to court for a BPO. We have had clients that asked for it and we always posed the question to the agent to see if they were willing (This is at BB not MSV btw) But we never held it against an agent that said no.

J~

MSJV- SO glad to hear that. I just about croaked when I got the email- THANK YOU!!!!

I received one last month. I did a bpo for RRReview. The agent called me an just said sign. I had read the Declaration. I was the only party on doc. Additionally, it stated that I would be willing to appear in court. I told the agent that I was not willing to sign the declaration.

The next day I called the office in the U.S. and was informed that I was fired because I did not sign. The agent in the U.S. gave the impression it was only a document claiming my work was correct. That is not true. It was a declaration to remove a stay.

These are my thoughts:

-I was being used as an easy inexpensive tool for the lender/bpo co. What reputable lender would go to court and request removal of a stay for bk with a $40- bpo?

-If I went to court parking is $20 1/2 of what I made on the bpo

-I had no legal representation and no way would I retain an attorney to review or debate the declaration.

-If just if this became a lawsuit that would affect my broker's EO. I can assure you that the bpo company would not have any involvement.

- I have read other post and it looks like agents in California are getting these request. I maybe wrong.

-Finally, I lost business with RRReview but if I have to risk being pulled into any type of litigation it is OK.

You're under no obligation to sign or even acknowledge the request. In the event they need you in court they can issue a supoena. They're looking for an easy way to gain your cooperation. If the BPO company decides to cut you out, so be it. If that's they're position, I doubt I'd want to remain on their list. Regarding charging them for a court appearance; The supoena covers that, about $20.00 per day. Regarding RRReview; I dropped them 5 years ago when the laid off many of their American workers and shifted the work to India.

Thanks for the input. After a couple of vm and emails the bpo co. said they would tell the atty I wasn't going to sign it end of story. I agree with Jackreo, if I get cut out by a bpo co. for that , it's not what I want but so be it. Probably in the future, I'd just email back and say "in regard to your email request for client on order xxx , I don't sign or get involved in those" and go on to business at hand. This was a first so it was a little troubling. Thanks again!

RE: JackREO and India- the rest of the country might be a little late but I think that is going to be the trend across America. A little late but "cheaper" wasn't cheaper for USA. I also believe people are going to be buying more "local" in their local community .

I have had a few of those letters sent to me too, I spoke to my BPO company, they said, you can sign it or ignore, it really dosen't matter to them, so I chose not to sign because I didn't feel like it.

One time in 18 years, ignored them and it went away.

I've signed several - ain't no big thing - I stand by my work.

I stand by my work as well. I also stand by an agreement for a work order and my involvement. If it is disclosed up front, you'll be involved in a court action, asked to sign court documents and agree to be available and come to court if requested, there is no way in heck I'm available for that nor will I be. That was the first request of me like that and I think receiving it was a big surprise but after talking with the bpo co. and others on the board, I don't feel that the request in the future equals a committment on my part to participate and I'm more comfortable with it all now. Just because an attorney wants it doesn't translate into me having to do it. It's not my lawsuit..They have the bpo report. That's what I agreed to supply and they have it.

^^and what are the odds of that ever happening? Bankruptcy judges don't call witnesses; they make informed decisions.

I'm put on this earth to help people. If they need help, like a bankruptcy court document as is 100% of the time so far, I'm happy to stand by my work. Lord knows that homeowner has been through enough already as it is without needing me to make things more difficult.

It takes all of 5 minutes of my precious time and 15cents of my precious ink to print, sign, scan and email it.

For doing all that, I will get to wear another star in my golden crown in heaven.

not so fast Artiste...I think "judgement" just cost you your star..lol..but if I'm asked, I'll waive it

seriously, that's ok for you to what you want on court documents that is how you choose to work your business. How do you know it's the homeowner's attorney? Perhaps the attorney is with the big bad wolf trying to take their house...I've been on the planet for decades and have a track record in helping people that speaks for itself. "Helping" an attorney on a lawsuit I am not a party to and getting involved in a legal suit like that isn't something I'm comfortable with- that's the choice I am making on this type of involvement.

Now if you want to have a good time helping people, meet me down at the soup kitchen Friday night for open mic and it will surely put a smile on your face