Plaintiff Donald Creadore hired Rosenberg & Estis to represent him in a real estate sales deposit dispute.

Creadore, as the seller, believed that the purchasers violated the “best efforts” provision in the sales contract, and he had reason to keep the entire deposit. The firm did not raise the “best efforts” standard in their answer to the action commenced by the purchasers in federal court and only recouped half of the deposit.