In a legal maneuver that would make any financial advisor spit out their morning coffee, a man is suing his bank with what might be the most audacious argument in the history of personal responsibility: that the bank should have known better than to lend him $5.5 million for a mansion that was, to put it gently, cosmically doomed.
The unnamed gentleman at the center of this magnificent legal pretzel has essentially walked into court and declared, ‘Look, I wanted to buy a crumbling money pit for five and a half million dollars, and you LET me. That’s on you, buddy.’ It’s the financial equivalent of blaming a vending machine for your snack habit.
The lawsuit hinges on the argument that the bank failed in its due diligence by approving a loan for a property that — with presumably some level of obvious evidence — was never going to deliver on its multi-million-dollar price tag. The plaintiff contends that a responsible lender should have taken one hard look at the situation and said, ‘Sir, this is not the real estate investment you think it is.’
And honestly? He might not be entirely wrong. Banks do have a legal duty to conduct proper risk assessments, and if red flags were flapping in the breeze like laundry on a windy day, there could be a legitimate argument lurking beneath the spectacular audacity of this lawsuit.
Still, one cannot help but marvel at the sheer philosophical boldness of suing the institution that gave you five and a half million dollars because they were too agreeable about giving you five and a half million dollars. It’s a bit like suing a restaurant for letting you order the extra-large dessert.
The case raises genuinely interesting questions about lender responsibility, property valuation standards, and the eternal human capacity to look at a situation gone sideways and locate someone else to blame. Courts have occasionally sided with borrowers in predatory lending cases, so this one might be worth watching.
Whether the bank ultimately gets held responsible or the judge raises a single incredulous eyebrow before dismissing the case, this story is a certified classic of the ‘wait, that’s actually a legal strategy’ genre.
Source: Dexerto
Original story via Reddit Offbeat
