A group of investors in a collapsed real estate transaction in Costa Rica sued the lawyer of the entrepreneurial company, who was an escrow agent for the deal, contending that he had to transfer money only after supervising the events in Costa Rica and acted in a conflict of interest.
The Court held that the investors were aware of the risk involved in the transaction and the escrow agreement did not require supervision of the transaction and the escrow agent was not paid money for supervision. Once the funds have been released from the escrow account, the escrow agent had no further responsibility for such. Moreover, there is no problem in the fact that the escrow agent also served as the lawyer of the entrepreneurial company. The Court further noted the existence of a complete exemption provisions in the escrow agreement, except in the case of malicious acts, but stated that they are not required to be applied here because the Court did not find fault with the escrow agent’s conduct.