Attorney Cory Briggs and Former City Councilwoman Donna Frye call on Mayor Bob Filner to resign at a press conference outside of the Briggs Law Corp. in 2013. (Photo by Sam Hodgson)

San Diego attorney Cory Briggs removed a $200,000 lien he had placed on a private home after inewsource raised questions about the appropriateness of the lawyer’s real estate deals.

Marlene Nisbet told inewsource on Feb.12 she barely knew Briggs and that she entered into the deed of trust on her home to protect her assets in the face of a personal injury lawsuit. A lien against her property could make it look to creditors as if the house was encumbered by a loan and not worth much.

Nisbet said Briggs never actually gave her a $200,000 loan and she never made mortgage payments to him. She also said she was unaware that there was still a lien on her house and was “going to try to take care of it.”

Several experts inewsource interviewed said filing a fake lien against a house to protect assets from creditors would not be legal.

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