Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

Well, with temps in the mid-40's, like clockwork, summer is winding down (note play on words - clockwork...winding down). Then up into the 70's. In the convertible yesterday afternoon, it even called for a sweater.

We have a big sale today, and another in 7 days, and then another in 60 days. That will leave us with 4 spec homes next year to sell that are already built or nearly completion. Gives me lots of latitude to change directions.

Friday night lights. The booster club just bought a canon and now half the dads are down there blasting away.

Lucas is getting in the habit of inviting people over, and before I know it half the football team is sleeping over, with kids sleeping everywhere from the media room, to the screened porch, to my living room couches. Good kids though. As I tell Lucas, Lulu the dog gets a lot of privileges and a long leash (I know, too clever by half), and the way to get treated the same is to be well-behaved. It's probably weird for the kids seeing a single dad flex with pancakes, house work, dinners and the like. I'm sure the Moms drive the show in most of their households and the dads have a different role altogether.

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We really suck this year on the baseball diamond, after winning the championship 2 years in a row. Errors galore and quiet bats.

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I'm always tinkering around my house with this and that project - if you can call converting the existing 2 car garage into a large man-cave with ping pong, theater grade TV area, and an electronic dart board. This week will be the finish line.

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I live in Milford PA, a cool town, with a fastidious block road grid and lots of charm.

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Lulu has lots of perches she hangs out on. She likes how the bluestone heats up on a sunny day.

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Jared Covit's all up in arms over the photo I cut and pasted from the internet, threatening this and that. You'd have to wonder how many baseless causes of action he would file before learning a lesson.

I'm rereading Killer Angels, a Michael Shaara historical fiction account of the Battle of Gettysburg and listening to a true crime audio book on the Murdaugh family in South Carolina. Killer Angels, written in 1974, places the disastrous battle for the confederacy squarely on the lap of General Lee, who seems, in this book, to be engaging in this battle in order to bring the war to a close - win or lose.

My password app is warning me with a required override that I've used 'similar passwords too much'. For now, I'm satisfied just making the step and over-riding it, but at some point I'll need to get in there and mix it up a bit.

Another day closer to selling 2 more homes. Great homes - an American Four-square, and an American Ranch, in Olivebridge. That'll be a $9m project - the numbers in the profit and loss terrain really aren't that impressive, but a percentage of a number gets bigger as the number gets bigger. Actually, the percentage stays the same but the number gets bigger on bigger projects. Ok, like duh. But anyways, especially since I was using all cash, the liquidity is new if nothing else the investment cycle begins to return on the investment - of time and money, and attention.

Listen, the word for my blog, in the world of google search, is authority. I'm an authority - using their dense and complex and ever-evolving algorithm, they believe this blog should be weighted heavily in the topics I cover. It's no small feat - being recognized by a world-domineering tech company as being relevant and an authority about which you speak.

There are lots of things we do daily that are pretty one-off, meaning I'm not seeing a lot of copycat hurdlers - developing, designing, building and then selling a home, for decades. That's pretty much non-existent.

The pension and profit sharing programs we offer are unheard of in small businesses.

The benefits, holidays, work environment, year round stability as an employer

Running 18 jobs across 3 counties with 3 people in the office.

There's a lot more we do that when you get a little distance from it, you see it shine and shine brightly.

I mention the google thing cause our current topic du jour, Jared Covit, is now the proud host - position 1 and 2 - of our posts about the meritless lawsuits he pursued.

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When Martin Shell, Esq and I guess proprietor of Martin Shell Law Firm- a firm so advanced it doesn’t seem to have a website - writes my attorney in the Jared Covit and Lauren Rich case that I should remove the picture of Jared Covit I found on that thing called the internet and copy and pasted it to my blog, that I was to remove it immediately because it was an unauthorized use of his image, and that I should be ‘advised accordingly’, I’m wondering if he got that legal threat from the same playbook that resulted in 5 of his 6 bullshit causes of actions against me and Catskill Farms - claims so frivolous it seemed like the judge was trying to conserve ink while dismissing them, and playing a game of how few words the Honor could use while disposing of the weak arguments offered up as serious legal doctrine.

I’m no Oliver Wendell Holmes, but you got to understand, that to have 5 causes of actions dismissed, a Court not allowing them to move forward at all, those causes of actions must be so meritless, and so lacking in legal basis and precedent, that the Court decides they don’t have to hear more, without hearing much at all.

Only in the insular footsie world of the law would you be allowed to file a bunch of bullshit lawsuits and have no fear of repercussions.  Wouldn’t it be more fair, that if your claims can’t even pass the most liberal interpretation of the statute, that given all the benefits of the legal doubts, the claims still don’t hold up, wouldn’t we all agree that there should be some consequence to that - say the lawyer being brought up on ethics charges, or the failed plaintiff having to pay the legal fees of the wronged party? Doesn’t that make sense, to us non-lawyers?  Sure, that would reduce the income of many a lawyer, as they had to be more careful and thoughtful, and I guess maybe that’s what they are talking about when you hear about trial lawyer reform, and how their lobbying body always blocks efforts to make wrongfully suing people harder.

So I asked my attorney to forward me some information on this legal doctrine of Martin Shell, this doctrine of unauthorized use of an internet photograph.  I’m actually very interested in learning more about this legal theory from this grand legal mind, and I'm not being sarcastic - . 

The Court seemed weary by the end of the ruling and clumps cause of Action 5 and 6 together, dismissing them both with a rationed use of words. We, for the benefit of our google relevancy testing (though Jared Covit's internet irrelevance plays a part too), will tease them apart and review them independently.

Getting right to the point, the Court opens with ...

"The Defendants' motion to dismiss the Plaintiffs' 5th and 6th causes of action based in the application of General Business Laut 349 is granted." One could wonder if the court was sensing a general trend in the legal merits of the lawsuit as it picked up dismissal momentum.

“The Plaintiffs' complaint, viewed as a whole, principally alleges that the Defendants breached a contract entered into by the parties that called for the Defendants to erect and complete a home according to the layout and specifications set forth in the parties' contract, and for the Plaintiffs, in tum, to purchase the home and the property. Consequently, the instant action is a private contract action, unique to the parties, that accordingly falls outside the ambit of GBL 349. As such, the Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that the Defendants' conduct was consumer-oriented, as opposed to a private conduct, or that the Defendants engaged in a deceptive practice, as opposed to allegedly breaching the terms of the parties' contact. As such,the Defendants' motion to dismiss as to the Plaintiffs' 5th and 6th causes of action is granted pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a)(1) and (7).”

Basically, it seems the theory behind all of this is because Jared Covit feels wronged, the entire world has been wronged - that because he feels my dealings with him (that has netted him $300k+ in paper profit) were mean, that the whole world feels that way - that somehow our dispute between two parties somehow reflects my dealings, period, and that I’m engaged on some sort of day to day fraudulent behavior.

Now, you have to walk a mile in my shoes over the last 25 years and $300m in community investment and untold tens of millions in profits made from reselling my homes to understand the scale of the insult to accuse me of being a fraud, and perpetrating a scheme to harm people I have spent half my life housing and bringing joy to their families, over a cumulative spans 150 years of families living safely in my homes. I'm ok with an honest business dispute. This ain't that. This is a temper tantrum, with defaming characteristics at the heart.

"The Plaintiffs' third cause of action for unjust enrichment is also dismissed pursuant to CPLR32ll (a)(1)," rules the Court.

An action for unjust enrichment requires the proof "that (l) the other party was enriched, (2) at the plaintiff's expense, and (3) that it is against equity and good conscience to permit the other party to retain what is sought to be recovered."

In one paragraph, the Court dismisses and discards the idea that Jared Covit and Lauren Rich were a victim. The brevity of the dismissal goes to the root of how malicious and frivolous the claim was in the first place. To be the recipient of an asset that grows in value by 50% in 24 months that you were somehow victimized can only be the conclusion of worst type of inward-looking millennial stereotype.

Choose a public venue like the courts to address your problems with a goal to embarrass your building partner, be prepared for a public response. Or as Kathy said, play around, find out.

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For discovery and production on the one remaining lame cause of action, we produced all the documents related to building Jared Covit's home. As I was searching and printing, it became self-evident how accommodating we are.

The pile on the right is all the times we said 'yes'. The pile on the left is when we had to audacity to say 'no'.

Impressively, we are now the first result in Jared Covit's online profile, after 36 hours. I don't easily impress myself much anymore, but this one raised my eyebrows.

(Update - Google recognized this post over night and is now 3rd on Jared Covit's internet profile - also, important to note you should search in 'incognito mode', otherwise your search results are biased by previous searches.)

Before I get started with the matter at hand, I do have to say I watched a movie last night at the Roxy Hotel, NYC named Sasquatch Sunset that ranked right up there with Swiss Army Man for weirdness which lured you in with a cast you knew from other hits. And when I say weird, I mean just out there and thoroughly unexpected. I recommend both.

Nothing gets under my craw ('hunters centuries ago noticed that some birds swallowed bits of stone that were too large to pass through the craw and into the digestive tract. These stones, unlike the sand and pebbles needed by birds to help grind food in the pouch, literally stuck in the craw, couldn't go down any farther') more than disrespect for the efforts we make to provide good looking and value oriented shelter and accommodation for the past 25 years. But while it may get stuck in my craw, for the most part the gag reflex recovers with some mutual reflection and we all go on with our lives, sometimes repentant, often just turning the page to other more valuable affairs.

However, on occasion, but not many occasions for the amount of contracts I engage - large and small, verbal and written - they digress into the messy process of litigation, and then we all waste a lot of time and money trying to prove this or that.

In 2021 and 2022, we built a house for Jared Covit at 174 Rivka Road, Saugerties NY. It is a premium piece of land with a wonderful meandering stream defining its border. The home we built and personalized wall by wall by Jared Covit and company sold in the $600's and now is probably worth $950k now worth over a million in the right hands.

So what do you do if you are Jared Covit, and your upstate building partner - who built your dream home in the middle of a world-wide pandemic pretty much on time and on budget with supply-chain challenges never seen before - ? You sue him/them for breach of contract, attempt to pierce the corporate veil and harm him personally, accuse him of unjust enrichment, breach of implied warranty, and deceptive acts, and all attorney fees to boot. More or less, you go for the jugular of someone made you $300k-$500k in 24 months - an ROI even Warren Buffett would approve of and probably other than a lucky chance in a high tech start up, the best return he will see in his life.

All but the 'breach of warranty' claim was deemed improper (I would personally would call it harassing, insulting and offensive to the team) and dismissed by an Ulster County court. The assertion - the siding could have been installed in a different fashion. I would argue, as could be asserted of every item in the house.

I'm not a big fan of the 'litigation privilege' concept - I mean I totally get why what you say and plead in court cannot be used in a defamation suit, since you can easily see dozens of defamation lawsuits birthed from every legal action. But, that leaves us businesspeople, in an internet era of google search results, in the precarious position of having our names smeared with the headlines, and the initial cause of action, but the not ultimate resolution. Right now Jared Covit's search results are a mix of professional and this lawsuit he filed, but now this rebuttal will also appear along his search, and it will have professional repercussions, as the Violent Femmes sang in the 80's with their hit Kiss Off, "this will now go down on your permanent record."

Google search loves my blog since it satisfies a lot of what google search demands - 1, it's been around forever. 2, it is constantly maintained and updated. 3, it is relevant. 4, a lot of people read it (but like porn, won't admit it!!). So, if I mention you, and you don't have a lot of entries about yourself online, you better believe my post will start to show up. Quickly. Prominently. It helps when someone has an unusual name like Covit. 'Petersheim's' a great example of a unique name, but I have so much written about me over the last twenty years that to penetrate my google search it needs to be a pretty big event that gets covered by the news and then picked up by other outlets. That at least for awhile would gain some traction. You can always post to online review platforms but people take those with a grain of salt, or actually a sea of salt.

I think it's fair. Tit for tat. The only reason I can think of that Jared Covit would accuse me personally of the nastiness he did was to harass and pressure us to resolve the issue, to make us look bad, to affirm his compulsions. He started an Instagram account solely dedicated to throwing shade at me, and then targeted my followers with invites to this seemingly innocuous page that then got dark once you entered. He stopped when it was clear he was going to get sued, and probably have gigantic personal exposure for he and his wife.

One could legitimately ask if this was and is good for business, and, my answer is that it's hard to know for sure, but I think over the years, people like it when I stick my finger in someone's eye - that they would like to do it themselves but can't. And at this point, what's good for business isn't that paramount for me - I'm about retired (not true, but aspirationally it's fun to say). Who would have known that 'aspirationally' wasn't a word? (at least according the squiggly line under it).

In our response and request that the Court dismiss this frivolous and harassing cause of action by Jared Covit- attempting to pierce the corporate shield and hold me personally liable for actions of the corporation my attorney wrote:

"Plaintiffs veil piercing-claim must be dismissed pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) for failing to state a claim because (i) Plaintiffs only recite conclusory allegations of the veil-piercing factors and, also, (ii) failto allege any fraud or wrongdoing beyond purported contractual breaches."

And in doing just that - In dismissing the cause of action attempting to pierce the corporate veil and envelop me personally in this lawsuit (ie, harassment), the Court, in a brief almost dismissive response, seemingly agrees completely with our response and writes -

"Upon review, it is apparent that the portion of the Plaintiffs' second cause of action seeking to pierce the corporate veil cannot survive the Defendants' motion to dismiss.  Even recognizing the liberal manner by which the sufficiency of a pleading is to be adjudged in determining a CPLR 3211 (a) (7) motion, it nevertheless remains that the Plaintiffs' complaint is insufficient as ... is totally devoid of solid, nonconclusory allegations,..."

I love the 'totally devoid of solid, nonconclusory allegations'. Lawyers aren't supposed to file lawsuits they now to be frivolous, but in the cases of insider baseball, few are held accountable for wasting the courts time.

The problem with filing a lawsuit with 4 or more suspect (and I'm only using such a moderate phrase since I'm feeling generous) causes of action is that I will blog about each and everyone separately, thus accentuating my impact on Jared Covit's internet profile.

Stay tuned as we measure the speed as which Google recognizes my relevant blog post about Jared Covit and Lauren Rich.

My son proving his metal as the JV starting QB on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

And the garden is producing a steady stream of peppers and tomatoes.