Sharron K. Shaw purchased real property on March 24, 2003, and in September 2004, the property flooded when the North Fork of Peachtree Creek overflowed during Hurricane Ivan. In September 2008, Shaw sued former property owner Larry Robertson and his son Tony Robertson, along with real estate broker Harry Norman Realty and agents Richard Cohen and Kenneth Covers. Shaw contended that the defendants committed fraud by failing to disclose that the property had flooded previously and was located in a flood zone. Finding that Shaw failed to present evidence that she exercised due diligence before buying the property, the trial court granted summary judgment to all of the defendants. Shaw appeals, and for the reasons that follow, we affirm. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. We review a grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the evidence and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Bickerstaff Real Estate Mgmt. v. Hanners , 292 Ga. App. 554, 555 665 SE2d 705 2008. In this case, the trial court held that, “as a matter of law, Shaw failed to exercise due diligence and is unable to sustain the justifiable reliance prong of her claims for Fraud and Conspiracy to Defraud.”
Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to Shaw as the respondent to the motion for summary judgment, the evidence shows that Shaw spent about 15 minutes at the property before authorizing her real estate agent to make an offer on the house. She did not notice the storm drains in front of the house, although she did notice that the lot across the street was vacant, with only what looked like an entrance left standing. She did not review any tax records or talk to the neighbors, and did not know if the neighborhood had a homeowners’ association. She did not recall having reviewed flood maps of the property on the FEMA web site. On her second visit to the property she walked through with the Robertsons’ agent Covers, and then made an offer on the property. She signed a contract on March 1, 2003 to buy the house “as is,” and closed on March 24, 2003 without having the house inspected or having the boundaries surveyed. She was unfamiliar with that area of town, and did not ask if her agent, who was a personal friend, was familiar with the area. She never noticed that the creek was nearby and performed no Internet investigations.
