In 2003 a very avoidable home destruction and personal violation occurred (in the known history of brokering real estate,) Defendant’s own Executive Vice President, Jane Bayard stated: “I have never heard of a similar situation.”
Licensed defendant did nothing to prevent this destruction from happening or mitigating their client loss of home under very bizarre circumstances and refuses to accept their blatant misconduct. Within hours, Plaintiff would receive derelict transgressions from Warburg Realty (defendant and a licensed broker,) who ignored their lawful regulation and fiduciary duties. Evidence and witnesses have revealed a wealth of gross wrongdoings on the part of Warburg Realty.
Warburg Realty allowed an emotionally unstable agent access to plaintiff’s home, while plaintiff was out of town. Ill agent destroyed plaintiff’s home, through destruction of domicile with strong satanic undertones and other unusual desecrations. Further, agent was abandoned at plaintiff’s home by realtor allowing ill agent to run amuck disturbing and frightening neighbors and finally their client.
- Kate Meckler (assisting ill agent) states in an email to Frederick Peters President of Warburg, “I can only attest to the fact that I did tell him (after her breakdown) that at the open house she was losing it. I also told him that people in the office had been concerned for her.” Kate Meckler responds, when asked why she would leave Johnson alone in Plaintiff’s home (after losing it,) Kate Meckler stated “I did not think about that.”
- As Executive Vice President Jane Bayard, Kate Meckler’s supervisor stated, “We discussed Julie and Kate [Meckler] was concerned about her anxiety and as I said, she was very emotional, and that was disturbing on a couple of levels, so it was hard to have a conversation with Julie when she was emotional.”
- In a friend’s affidavit she states, “When I was told of Julie’s unfortunate breakdown, I was not, even for a minute, surprised. It seemed inevitable that the emotional condition I saw Julie in would adversely affect her work.”
- “In the late summer of 2007, Julie told me that her boss, Fred Peters, knew that she was very ill during the weeks if not months before Dan’s open house and that because of that he even went with Julie to therapy on the Friday before the open house. She stated that Fred knew she was too unstable to work at the time.”
- A former Warburg employee, states “I CAN tell you that Warburg was definitely aware of Julie’s mental state for many years.”
When asked, “were there people in the organization that felt that she was not capable of performing in mid January 2003?” Jane Bayard responded “It wasn’t really up to other people in the office to evaluate Julie. People had opinions about her level …”
- As Jane Bayard states in her deposition when describing the apartment after the event “There was evidence that Julie had staged some sort of gynecological event… and substances were on the furniture and it was a mess.”
- Dr. Thomas Golden, PhD, behavioral psychologist, states, “... it was a scene too macabre for any person to endure.”
- “Clearly a traumatic event of unique substances and proportions so devastating to a person as he innocently returns to his home,” continues Dr. Golden.
- Dr. Golden agrees Plaintiff was traumatized noting “... Mr. Farash who always evidenced a demonstrable sense of ethical behavior was now continually ruminating about the ill-will and indecency of his realtor.”
- Bayard was asked what she thought happened in Plaintiff’s apartment and she responded “Without being a doctor myself, I would describe what it was psychotic incident and I know that she left your home in a terrible disarray.”
- Bayard, states “Yes, understandably … It was a very alarming incident, it doesn’t happen very often, if at all. I’ve never heard of a similar situation.”
- Dr. Thomas Golden, Ph.D., states, “Furthermore, in the ensuing days the distress the Plaintiff experienced was greatly heightened by Defendant’s unwillingness to take proper steps to alleviate the consequences of Johnson’s breakdown in Defendant’s apartment.”
- Dr. Golden states, “Clearly the tragic event of February 2, 2003, and the total absence of any good-willed response from the realty company significantly contributed to the despair suffered by Mr. Farash.”
The following is from Plaintiff’s second day (3/9/06) of testimony at deposition by Defendant’s counsel:
Farash states, "I hired the firm, Ashforth Warburg, I signed a contract. The contract had three signatures from three different people who worked for that organization."
Q. Do you know how Mr. Peters first learned about the incident?
Farash answer, "No, and I would like to know ..."
- April 6, 2006 Frederick Peters was produced for deposition. Fred Peters admits that prior to the incident he had received multiple complaints from several personnel within his organization and was aware that Ms. Bayard had numerous meetings with members of his real estate agency regarding [Jane Doe’s] increasingly irrational behavior.
- Defendant’s President Fred Peters responded when asked about when he first noticed Johnson’s mental deterioration and testified “after the holidays, so probably early in January [2003].” Others state agent was deteriorating for about a year. Of prior knowledge, defendant’s own President admits that he possessed prior knowledge of Johnson’s propensity for unusual behavior.
- Frederick Peters admits to management level meetings with colleagues at AWA some which actually included Johnson herself regarding Johnson’s deteriorating emotional and unstable condition. One such meeting included a conversation between AWA management and Agent Johnson’s psychotherapist which occurred approximately two days before the open house.
Q. When did you have the conversation with the therapist?
A. Third week in January maybe.
Q. Did you have any conversations in January 2003 with her about those concerns?
A. Yes
- Agent Johnson’s severe emotional deterioration was well known to her employer, as well as co-workers and other industry and non-industry individuals. As testified to in several depositions:
Q. Did you leave at the end of the open house with Julie Johnson?
MECKLER: A. No.
Q. Did you leave before her or after her?
MECKLER: A. Before.
Q. Did you observe in 2001 Julie Johnson engaging in any unusual behavior?
A. I don’t remember.
Q. Did you notice in 2002 Julie acting irrational, bizarre, difficult in 2002?
A. I don’t remember those words.
Q. What if anything did you observe in 2003 regarding Julie Johnson’s manner, behavior?
A. On a specific day?
Q. Sure?
A. I don’t know how to answer that question.
Q. Do you recall any unusual behavior?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
Q. Did Julie evoke any emotion in you that was unpleasant in this time period of December, January, or up until the termination of my agreement?
A. Yes.
...
Q. Would you kindly share with me the sum and substance of what you do recall of that conversation?
A. Anything that you were concerned about you just were wondering if she was … if she was okay, and you also asked me if it was a typical behavior.
Q. Would you mind sharing that?
A. I said that she was definitely doing things that were probably – I use the term loony or crazy or something like that…
Q. In your words did Ms. Johnson behave loony or crazy during the open house?
MS. SCHRERO: Objection.
A. Yes in my words.
- Johnson’s friend states that: “In my interactions in the six or so months prior to her psychotic breakdown in Daniel Farash’s home, I saw clearly, that she was an alcoholic. She drank during her work days, before meetings, during lunch, in the early afternoon and evening. She always had several drinks at one time.”
- In Johnson’s friend affidavit dated November 27, 2007, she states that, “Julie also told me she was having paranoid thoughts. She described one episode she experienced in the fall of 2002. She said that at times she thought the messages were being sent to her from inanimate objects in the environment. . . The messages were menacing, violent, Stephen King like messages, which she said were meant just for her.”
- In her deposition, when asked why she would leave Johnson alone in plaintiff’s home, Meckler stated: “I didn’t think about that.” When asked why she did not attend the virtual tour on Monday the following day, Meckler stated: “No reason. I probably didn’t want to go,”though the evening earlier she said in her own words that Johnson had been “losing it” and was in no condition to work. As reported by Meckler in an e-mail to Peters, “I can only attest to the fact that I did tell him [Farash] (“after her breakdown”) that at the open house she [Johnson] was “losing it”. I also told him that people in the office had been concerned for her.”
- Defendant’s President Peters was deposed and testified as follows:
Q. Who expressed those concerns?
A. I believe Linda expressed them, I believe Kate expressed them and I certainly discussed them with Jane. She also expressed them to me.
A. Joe.
- Defendant knowingly allowed Johnson to become increasingly destructive for days in plaintiff’s home with access to alcohol, and other dangerous objects (before, during and after the open house), with full knowledge by defendant of Agent Johnson’s increasingly unstable and dangerous behavior. Defendant knew of Johnson’s deteriorating condition and that Johnson was not capable of performing her duties. Meckler stated that defendant’s management was extremely aware of Johnson’s mental and emotional instability on several occasions, including during the open house. Meckler also stated to plaintiff that management was completely aware of Johnson’s disorderly actions during the open house.
- During her deposition, Bayard displayed both a lack of understanding of the events in question, as well as a realization that something terrible had befallen the plaintiff:
Q. Are you aware of some of the things that were said during the incident by Julie to me?
A. You mean when you got [there] – you found her in your apartment?
Q. Do you know if it had any impact on me?
A. I was told it did
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WARBURG REALTY CLIENT PROMOTIONAL BROCHURE
