Much has been written about our love of sports. And there are as many reasons as there are sports fans. One reason has to be that it creates an instant source of collegiality among us. Even rabid fans can engage in entertaining banter with casual fans whenever the Sox are winning (or losing), or the B’s and C’s are in the playoffs. 

Talking about sports can create an instant connection between two strangers, and it is a much safer topic than politics or religion. Even among friends, the topic of sports is often an endless dialogue temporarily interrupted by the trifles of work, sleep or chewing. There is no better topic when running into a member of the judiciary at a social gathering, especially when you have a case pending before his or her honor.
 
Collegiality is a good thing. We have all benefitted from time to time by the extraordinary collegiality customarily practiced by the real estate bar, and I was recently reminded why collegiality is so important. I represented a seller in a residential transaction. On the Friday of the closing, I received a call from bank counsel and his title examiner and they described to me two serious issues created by the patch-work-quilt history of the various owners in the chain of title. The issues included a missing deed that should have materialized from a lawsuit involving a prior owner and the current seller, and questions regarding a fifty year old probate. Bank counsel sent me copies of the relevant documents from the title and I called my client. Naturally, all of my client’s records were packed in boxes stacked inside a moving van. My client had dismissed his attorney at the end of the lawsuit and concluded the matter pro-se, and apparently forgot to obtain and/or record the deed. My client did not know the name of opposition counsel, but was able to describe her to me and give me the name of the town in which she practiced. I recognized the description, placed a call to the attorney, and she immediately dropped everything she was doing to pull the file and attempt to find the deed.
 
Meanwhile, I called two other local attorneys who I thought would have familiarity with the probate issue because they had represented other members of the same family in subsequent probate matters. Likewise, the attorneys immediately pulled their files and attempted to help me put the pieces together. By noon time five different local law firms were working together attempting to resolve the issues so that the home buyers could complete their closing and have a place to stay for the night. There were sporadic interruptions by the brokers advocating for a use and occupancy agreement and a two week extension, but because of the respect that I have for my colleagues at the other firms I remained committed to completing the transaction by the end of the day.
 
By mid afternoon, the original of the missing deed was located, the ninety year old matriarch of the family was interviewed, a title affidavit was drafted, the affidavit was reviewed by counsel for the title insurance company and the closing was rescheduled for later in the afternoon.
 
I know that many of you have had similar experiences, and it is not uncommon to call upon our colleagues to sort out an issue within a chain of title. It is not easy to examine a title in Massachusetts for a variety of reasons, but it can be made a little easier knowing that your brothers and sisters of the real estate bar maintain good records and are ready, willing and able to assist their colleagues when problems arise. Thank you all.