Shattered glass. Holes in walls. South Jordan man sues city for wrecking his home

How important is a single signature on a legal document? A South Jordan homeowner claims the wrong signature ended with firefighters causing significant damage to his house.

[mariewolton]

That smirk when the fire chief said that they checked now - shows you the contemp he has for this man and his home. Perverse to say the least. Fire Chief needs replacing with someone who has respect for the community they are supposed to serve. And surely the demo man carries a lot of responsibility here for his fraud!

[Mark_]

The demolition contractor should bear the cost of everything because he didn’t even have a contract to touch the house

[EricCanterra]

Judge should award full damages, attorney fees as well as punitive damages against the city and for the plaintiff. The city should go after the fraudulent owner for misleading them and fraudulently signing a document as owner of the property.

[txhookey]

That Fire Chief needs to have his house used for training. Maybe then he will pay better attention in managing his department and keeping them from committing fraud and destroying other people's property.

[SPUPRR]

They kept pointing to he asked for a quote on demo work. That doesn't mean leveling the house. Demo work can be pulling out cabinets, guttinh for remodeling, removing structure for additions, or complete removal of structure. By the looks before that house was a prime candidate for remodel and if he is smart, he would play on those lines of thought that he was wanted those ugly bathroom cabinets demoed for a remodel.

[erikanders]

My bet is that the demolition contractor probably collects a finder fee from the fire department to get the houses. He probably has been doing this without his customers knowing it for years and he kicks back money to the fire chief to look the other way. The demolition guy probably was desperate to get a house so hey can get his fee before the end of the year and the budget money the fire department has gets taken back. So he skipped the paperwork or who knows was drunk and convinced himself that he got an agreement to demo the place.

So the reporters should check the signatures on the prior auths and I bet its the same guy with the same fire officials signing off on it. Pure simple corruption

[helidude]

City says property was in disrepair.
But you know they still charged the same property taxes.

[KPC]

The city and Mark Powell owe Gregg a lot of money!

[RedtailFox]

The way that this city, fire department and demo contractor are acting is exactly why people take matters into their own

[kurokumo]

The fire chief pretty much told on himself, idiot, that “we check now” can definitely be used in court. It implies that they didn’t do their due diligence. I’m guessing there’s a reason the demo guy signed his name to that property there had to of been some kind of kickback he got. Why would he lie and put himself in that kind of a liability for nothing? Or Greg is pulling a fast one. I just don’t understand what benefit the demo guy got out of it. Even if it was part of him doing work, Greg had agreed to why not have Greg sign the paper if everything is aboveboard?

[lovinglife]

Oh my gosh that's horrible to have happened

[juliaweber]

Forged signature he should be fired and go to jail

[georgethompson]

He should also sue Mark Powell for false representation and the city.

[rpetzold]

You need to fill that demo paper for the mayors house and the chief of police too.

[SimRacingVeteran]

Right! So the house has issues yes but no reason to make it worse.

Wow.

[kimwoodhouse]

At the end of the day, it isn’t going to matter what the condition the house was in or what, if anything, the property owner was going to do with it. The property owner is saying he was doing due diligence and weighing his options.

The first question is: does the signature on the City’s release belong to the property owner. Apparently, the answer is no.

Second question is: Is there a signed contract between the property owner and the demolition company? Was the request for an estimate made in writing? What do those documents say?

Just out of curiosity, how much did the City pay the demolition company? Assuming, the demolition company got a contract to demolish the house, are they receiving a full demolition fee from the property owner AND a fee from the city?

The demolition company isn’t out of the woods on this.

There should be more paperwork behind that release/authorization verifying the signer’s authorization to sign the document, like something related to the title.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

[ShadowMokujin]

Put the chief in jail for 10 years and cut the check

[betsykeller]

Just because he was considering demolition, doesn't mean he was going to demolish it. His actions/intent show that. Despite having a number of bids, he hadn't made that decision yet. He hadn't signed any contracts. The idea that because he was considering it made it okay for the firefighters to go in and demolish the property makes no sense whatsoever. I would immediately motion to freeze Mark Powell's assets because that guy is already shady enough that you know he's going to hide whatever he can so he doesn't have to pay out. I would also subpoena the city records to see if they have a pattern of reckless behavior when it comes to contracts. I really believe that the homeowner is in the right here, and the city is in trouble.

[jakerazmataz]

I wish I was on the jury. And If I were him and I lost. Mark would be getting a visit from someone.

[eligebrown]

Not even close by a country mile. I hope this guy wins lots and lots of money