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Partition Referee Richardson "Red" Griswold completed a long and complicated sale of an oceanfront multi-unit property in Laguna Beach for approximately $5.42M. Mr. Griswold was appointed by the Orange County Superior Court in November 2013 to act as the court-authorized seller in the transaction. Due to the unique nature of the property and its "historical" aspects, the process was fragile. In the end, the objective was reached and the partition referee duties were carried out in full to the satisfaction of all involved.

The local CBS 8 San Diego news aired a story on the successful completion of one our recent hoarder receiverships (link to news story). This property posed many challenges, but in the end, the property was cleared out and rehabilitated and is now in productive use by a new owner.

A health and safety receiver is appointed by a court to address property conditions that are considered unsafe and/or unhealthy risks to the occupants and the surrounding neighbors and community. Many times, the issues center on the physical condition of the property itself. For example, faulty electrical wiring, a gas leak, or a fire hazard within a dwelling is an immediate threat to the safety of the property occupant and the neighborhood. But other times, the threat arises from the "activity" at the property. I am routinely appointed as a health and safety receiver to take control of residential properties that have become a nuisance to the neighborhood due to criminal activity (drug use and sales, storage and sale of stolen property, etc.), squatters, and disruptive conduct at the subject property. In most cases, by time the city has filed their petition for the appointment of a health and safety receiver, the neighbors have suffered with these problems for years. After my appointment as the receiver, the initial focus is to restore control over the property, removing all unauthorized occupants from the property, and in most cases, securing the property so that I can proceed to the next phase of the receivership--rehabilitating the physical deficiencies at the property and making is a safe place for the occupants and the community.

As stated in previous blog articles, Richardson "Red" Griswold is commonly appointed by courts in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties to act as partition referee to sell real estate that is at the center of a dispute between two or more co-owners. Typically, after co-owners are unable to resolve their ownership disputes related to their jointly-owned property, one co-owner will file a partition lawsuit and request that the judge appoint a partition referee to act as a neutral third party to sell the property and split the proceeds between the disputing co-owners (referred to as a "partition by sale," which is the most common partition remedy).

Richardson “Red” Griswold was appointed by the Del Norte County Superior Court as the health and safety code receiver over the Town House Motel in Crescent City, California in the matter of City of Crescent City v. Sarvada Nand Hanumanthu Reddy. While he was initially appointed in November 2014, the matter has been stayed since that time because the property owner filed an appeal, challenging the legal sufficiency of the Court’s order appointing Mr. Griswold. In February 2017, the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division Four) issued its written opinion, which affirmed the trial court’s order appointing Mr. Griswold as receiver. PDF of Court of Appeal's Opinion. Following the issuance of the opinion, Mr. Griswold began carrying out his court-ordered duties as the health and safety receiver over the 23-unit motel in Crescent City.

Red Griswold was recently invited to appear on "Whissel Wednesdays" on KCBQ 1170AM to speak about his experiences as a health and safety receiver and partition referee. Below are the two segments from the video/audio appearance.