Opinion ID: 1653664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Minneapolis Property

Text: In April 1999, after the purchase of the Mound property, Ryerson and Swensen suggested another investment property to L.J., this one located in Minneapolis. Ryerson and Swensen again suggested that L.J. provide funds for the purchase price and renovations. In exchange, Ryerson and Swensen offered to renovate the property and then obtain financing to purchase L.J.'s interest. L.J. agreed to the arrangement, and on July 27, 1999, she entered into an agreement to purchase the Minneapolis property for $910,000. L.J. paid $12,000 in earnest money, another $136,299.82 in cash at closing, and obtained two mortgages to cover the balance of the purchase price. The title to the Minneapolis property was conveyed to L.J., and between 1999 and 2003, L.J. used the Minneapolis property as a rental property. Ryerson and Swensen were to collect the rent money and use the money to pay for expenses, including the two separate monthly mortgage payments on the property. In January 2000, Ryerson had L.J. sign a blank quitclaim deed, telling her that the deed would be filed only in the event that L.J. died. Relying on Ryerson's representations, L.J. signed the blank deed. Ryerson later completed the deed, backdated it to September 29, 1999, and made it appear that L.J. had conveyed to Ryerson a one-half interest in the Minneapolis property. Swensen notarized the deed, and it was recorded by the Hennepin County Registrar of Titles on November 29, 2001, without L.J.'s knowledge or consent. In September 2001, Swensen drafted a contract for deed conveying the Minneapolis property from Ryerson to Swensen's father, R.S., for $1,200,000. The contract for deed included no reference to L.J.'s interest in the property and was prepared without her knowledge. Swensen supposedly notarized his father's signature on the contract for deed, but R.S. testified that he never signed the contract for deed. R.S. also says that he never made any payments on the Minneapolis property and never authorized Swensen to act on his behalf with regard to Minneapolis property. Ryerson and Swensen used the contract for deed to begin a refinancing process on the Minneapolis property. They arranged for a $995,000 mortgage loan in R.S.'s name and provided false information to the mortgage broker in order to do so. Ryerson falsely represented the status of her title and interest in the property. Further, she and Swensen both stated that R.S. was making regular payments under the contract for deed and presented false documents as proof that regular payments had been made, including a false IRS Form 1098 and a series of receipts. Based on the representations made by Ryerson and Swensen, a closing was held on January 16, 2003, where a mortgage was issued in R.S.'s name and the proceeds were used to pay off the contract for deed. On the day of the closing, Swensen told L.J. that a buyer had been found for the Minneapolis property and represented that L.J. would be repaid for her investment after the closing. Swensen then had L.J. sign a quitclaim deed transferring all her interest in the Minneapolis property to Ryerson. At the closing on the Minneapolis property, Swensen signed his father's name to the necessary documents, purporting to be the attorney-in-fact on his father's behalf. Ryerson then conveyed the Minneapolis property to R.S. by warranty deed. R.S. testified that he had no knowledge of the $995,000 loan or the deed that was executed in his name. Ryerson received a payment of $132,388.07 at the closing, but L.J., who had invested nearly $200,000 cash in the Minneapolis property, received none of the proceeds. According to R.S., Ryerson contacted him on November 26, 2003, and asked him to meet her at a bookstore, supposedly because Ryerson was interested in buying life insurance from him. During the meeting, Ryerson told R.S. that Swensen had asked her to get R.S.'s signature on a few documents. Among the forms that R.S. signed that day was a blank quitclaim deed. After the meeting, Ryerson completed the deed so that it transferred ownership of the Minneapolis property to O'Brien. O'Brien claims that he had paid some back taxes on the property, but testified that he did not consider himself the owner of the property. O'Brien testified that on March 16, 2004, Ryerson had him sign three blank quitclaim deeds. The deed from R.S. to O'Brien was then recorded on May 28, 2004. Ryerson was still in possession of the blank signed deeds bearing O'Brien's signature when the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility began its investigation of her conduct. In the 2005 settlement agreement between L.J. and Ryerson, L.J. was able to reacquire the Minneapolis property, but the property was encumbered by the $995,000 mortgage and had gone into foreclosure by the time L.J. reacquired it.