Kasdan Simonds Riley et al recently mass mailed "Legal Service Agreements" to Valencia residents to solicit a class action lawsuit.

Homeowners in the Valencia area of Tesoro del Valle recently received a mass-mailing of letters from Kasdan Simonds Riley et al, a law firm in Irvine CA. This letter has the word "Advertisement" in small print on the lower left of the envelope and the lower left of the cover letter, which should be a big clue that this firm is just fishing for your business.

BEWARE of these solicitations for your business that are carefully engineered to look like bonafide legal agreements for a lawsuit in progress. This latest version of mass mailings from this firm included a multi-page "Legal Services Agreement", which if signed, does in fact create a binding agreement to use this firm’s services.

What they are trying to do is solicit enough homeowners to sign up with them to create a class action lawsuit against the various builders in Tesoro del Valle regarding alleged construction defects.

How does this affect you as a homeowner? If you do have unresolved issues with your builder, then of course you should contact a qualified legal counsel to request assistance in resolving any issues that the builder has failed to address. However, if you join in on this lawsuit with the intent of getting some "free money" from the builder and you do NOT have any significant issues with your home, then joining this lawsuit may only have the result of making it difficult to sell your home in the future.

Why? Because when you sell your home, you’ll be required to disclose to your potential buyers that there is a pending lawsuit involving your home. This may make it more difficult for your buyers to obtain financing, which of course will then make it harder for you to sell your home.

What if a substantial number of homeowners fall prey to this "advertisement" for a class action lawsuit, even if you don’t? Again, you’ll likely be required to disclose that fact to your future buyers, even if you are not personally involved.

Remember, this recent mailing has the word "Advertisement" on both the outer envelope and the cover letter, which should be a big warning that this is simply a carefully crafted marketing piece. Granted that this firm has been successful in obtaining settlements from various builders, including a settlement in the Castaic area according to their website, but that does not guarantee that there will be any "free money" coming your way.

If you do feel that you require legal counsel regarding a disagreement with your builder, then you owe it to yourself to do your research and select the legal counsel who will best represent your interests.

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