Re 2Nd Notice Spring Maintenance Visit 4¶

1. Thank you. I will confirm with Rick tomorrow if its best to have the hvac service postponed etc. this is why I requested a copy of the email(if possible to have ) so I could add onto it asking Rick etc.

2. What is the next step now that the discovery questions were submitted/logged?

On Thu, Apr 14, 2022 at 7:13 PM Tania Tuttle <ttuttle@mmatllaw.com ttuttle@mmatllaw.com > wrote:

Sarah  the chances of HVAC professionals not accidently stepping onto the property of the Sweatmans is beyond slim in my opinion. Its just too narrow an area and even if they say they could, with tempers so high, I would never advise you to do that if you didnt want to provide a heads up to protect you and your HVAC people.  You may just want to postpone the service and we can send an email stating to ignore our prior correspondence as to the same.  I dont want to see this blow up and cause you more potential damages and fees.  If Lisa came back with any questions or concerns, I would tell you to call it off regardless.

However, if you want them to come  which is totally fine - this was the way it should be handled. Sally and I discussed prior to her reaching out.  I have had two decades of experience handling these types of matters and am not going to take any steps that put any of your claims at issue, whether covered or not.  It has absolutely no effect whatsoever on any claims or counterclaims. It is pure courtesy and done to avoid expansion of litigation and additional trespass claims in such a hotly contested matter.  Lets say, for example, the reverse happens and the Sweatmans crossed into your property without any sort of warning to us or okay by you (your property, not disputed property), you would likely have concerns and would call your attorneys and/or the cops.  The Sweatmans could do the same  and drag your HVAC guys in if they really wanted to be difficult.  I have a case with a fight in which this is exactly what happened because the other side (HOA) gave no heads up about entering my clients property to cut down a tree that fell on what they deemed HOA property.  He walked all around my clients property without notice.  It was likely innocent because it was the only way the trees were being cut down, but entering without any heads up, knowing there was a current dispute between parties, resulted in cops being called and additional claims being added to the lawsuit.  Hope this makes sense.

As for the survey, please note that if the surveyor believes he will need to access your neighbors property (not the disputed property but property that is the Sweatmans undisputed property) it is also standard for us to give counsel the heads up as to the date of the survey.  Otherwise the surveyor is trespassing, just as the HVAC person would have been trespassing if they crossed over across the disputed area into property that is without question not yours.  The  same is in reverse from them.  That being said Mark is very good and knows how to stay within property lines so I dont believe it should be an issue and he will raise the concerns if he has any.

As for the issues with keeping Amy on emails, I thought that was discussed earlier in this case but if not, no big deal at all  - this is why I brought it to your attention now. It happens a lot as the relationship between insured  insurance company  retained counsel can be confusing.  Nothing youve said is bad at all and wouldnt have any effect on the litigation, it just  is better not to get in the habit unless really necessary.  To provide you a little more background, you have attorney client privilege with your attorneys only.  That privilege goes away if third parties are on communications.  Same as if you had included the HVAC rep on the email. In general, the claims counsel from the insurance company is an attorney (as Amy is) but that claims counsel does not represent the insured, but works for and on behalf of the  title company.   The title company retains outside counsel (us) to represent you under the terms and conditions of the title insurance policy on whatever the title company determines is covered.   We do not represent the title company but the title company can direct parts of how we proceed depending on what is outlined in the policy.   (FYI - Lucy is retained on whatever your homeowners insurance which is likely very similar, as is most insurance defense)   If you have questions or concerns, Id suggest talking to Rich as he can review specifically as to your policy what is and is not covered by both your Stewart Policy and your Homeowners Policy if he has not already as we cannot. We cant get involved in anything coverage related between you and Stewart or you and your Homeowners insurance. Rich would have to handle anything such as that as well as any disputes you had with either company.  It would be best for him to advise you as to any questions related to this.

As I was about to hit