“Plead my cause, O Lord”

In February of 2008, I was sued by a former real-estate client for fraud and failure to disclose after mold was discovered in the house they had purchased with my help.

I felt I had a wonderful relationship with this family, and this had been the second transaction in which they asked me to represent them. The first was a 6-month lease. I took particular care with them, as the wife was expecting their second child toward the end of the lease term, and they also had a baby son.

When they asked me to help them with the second transaction, I showed them about 20 houses. They made an offer on one house, then walked away due to a disagreement on price. Shortly after that, I showed them a house that another agent in my office had listed. It seemed to answer all their needs and they were quite delighted with it. We executed a contract.

Before the purchase was completed, my clients had several structural and mechanical inspections. These inspections uncovered some issues that they wanted to pursue with the appropriate experts. I helped them with five follow-up appointments, meeting each tradesperson at the house. They decided to go forward to closing.

In April of 2007, the baby arrived. The closing was a couple days later. After that time, I kept in touch with them.

In August of 2007, the husband called to say that they had moved out of the house because he and his son were feeling ill and had determined that it was due to mold. They were moving around from hotels to friends—a night here and a night there. Of course, I felt terrible and asked my husband if he knew of a family at his school who had an apartment to house my clients while they sorted out the mold situation. A couple came forward with an offer to house them at no charge! They stayed in that apartment for over a year.

In February of 2008, my clients brought suit against the seller, the seller’s agent, my company, and me. I was deposed along with all the main players. All of this took considerable time and money. I knew that the buyers were just going on their attorney’s advice and that they felt bad about suing me. When the husband gave his deposition and the seller’s attorney asked him if he thought I should be punished for my part in this, he said no.

During this time, I never felt any animosity toward my clients. No one could understand it, certainly not my attorney and my company. They were concerned that I would seem too empathetic with the plaintiffs if we went to trial. But I just couldn’t summon the indignation they wanted from me. When my attorney was questioning my attitude, I looked to the Sermon on the Mount as my guide for behavior. There I found the Beatitude on being persecuted for righteousness’ sake and “if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” (Matt. 5:40)

The whole time, I knew I was innocent and that my innocence would protect me, just as Daniel’s innocence had protected him in the lion’s den. In my view, there was never any reason for concern. I trusted that human justice would pattern the divine. I was baffled sometimes by the duration of this ordeal, and my deposition was horrible. I wasn’t prepared for the feeling of being attacked, but still I was unafraid of the outcome.

I felt sustained by what I was hearing in church, reading in the Lesson, and studying on my own. One Wednesday, the readings were on God’s government. After the meeting, I told the First Reader I would soon be giving a testimony to go with those readings.

In May of 2009, the Lesson on “Mortals and Immortals” was devoted largely to the Trial in Science and Health.  It was full of pertinent things, including “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.  I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother:… the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not.” (Ps. 35:1, 14, 15)  And from Isaiah, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.”  (Isa. 33:22)

In August of 2009, we had a hearing for a summary judgment. We felt it went very well and that the judge favored our position. Many times the other agent would stop by my desk at work and ask if I was worried or impatient for an answer, and I was able to calm her. I told her that I was trusting God to reveal the truth and that the correct outcome could be expected. I knew I hadn’t done something wrong, and I didn’t think my colleague had either. In November, the summary judgment was finally granted, clearing all of us—my company, my colleague, and me.

I don’t know why it took so long, but you can bet I was in church that Wednesday to testify. The readings were on law! How grateful I was to stand up and declare with conviction that there’s only one law, and that we can depend on it!