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Lawsuit Questions
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Lawsuit
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We sent a notice in June. Missed the July deadline, because they paid part of the money they owed us. Now we are hitting on the date to file a suit for the balance due. Our attorney has a conflict of interest and can't help us with the case. Can you help us, please?
AlabamaEvents:
-Subcontractor claimed he did not get paid by GC that abandoned my property project with 20% of work done with fully payment in hand.
-Sub represented himself as wanting to help after GC abandoned, so I hired him directly to complete work.
-Now direct contractor, he collected full payment from me, and he also did not complete work, and left damages.
-I requested refund for work not completed, contractor agreed to only half refund of payment as per their refund policy and them starting the project
-Credit card reversed payments filing in my favor, after proof was submitted that work was not delivered.
-Contractor is now proceeding with lien claiming he did work and provided materials for property that he was not paid for.
-Contractor not only didn't complete work agreed to, but he left damages that had to be repaired for additional cost with another company.
-I have records of another company I hired after the contractor, that did the work the contractor is claiming he did.
-I also confirmed that when he was subcontractor for property, he was paid for work he did not do, which is inconsistent with his claim that he wasn't paid by GC.
Questions:
1. Can I claim funds that I paid to GC who then paid subcontractor, that subcontractor did not deliver for?
2. Can I represent myself in Small Claims, contesting lien?
3. If contractor wins suit, what will I face?
GeorgiaThank you for taking my first question. I would like to know how a homeowner goes about firing the contractor to insure he has nothing that could come back to the homeowner. Does the homeowner need a lawyer to fire the contractor when a signed contract is involved? What if the contractor attempted to write a new contract with 48 hours to sign? The contract was to replace the original contract with part of the original contract removed.
OhioWe are homeowners who hired a general contractor for house renovations. We both (homeowner and contractor) signed the contract so a construction loan could be secured. The contractor has failed in so many ways there are too many to mention. According to the contractor, he is owed $25,000 but not the homeowner but the bank will not relinquish the funds, because, in the bank's opinion, the contractor had not completed the work he is requesting to be paid for. The contractor tried to write a new contract after not being paid for the purpose of asking for $20,000 to complete the job with one exception, he took it upon himself to use this new contract and eliminate a large job that was in the original contract. If we signed the new contract he would send a few workers to finish what in his opinion would complete the work and give us 48 hours to sign the new contract. We respectfully denied the new contract, and this was done without the knowledge of the bank that holds the construction loan. Within the contract, we had specifically asked for a particular manufactures siding, and the contractor had the audacity to bring and install a different manufactures siding. The siding the homeowner requested was even in the contract that both parties signed. The contractor even lied about being a certified installer of the product he installed, and the reason I say that is because the manufacturer of the siding that was installed will not warranty their product due to all the installation problems. We found out later the manufacturer had no certified installers in Ohio. Eventually, when pressured the contractor admitted he was not a certified installer. So what are a homeowner's rights in a situation like ours?
OhioUnder contract to remodel a duplex. Estimate and invoice is line itemed and paid at completion of item. Mid way through owner changed way of payment. I've completed the job but haven't received any payment since September 9 2022.
FloridaNeed injunctive relief??
FloridaThrough levelset I filed a lien on a residential property. It was approved through the state of Texas and now the homeowner is suing me for claiming false lien filed. What can I do as I believe I had every right to file
TexasI am a general contractor that has completed work ( installed new ducting ) and the customer has refused to pay. I sent a certified letter stating that the account will be sent to collections, upon receipt customer called and threatened to complain on all formats of ratings as well as the BBB if we send to collections. Sent it to collections and customer offered very minimal payment with requirements of lien waivers for his property as well as all the places he contracted our services for which exceeded $12,000. Customer offered $2000. Collections advised us to sue our former customer. I have truck tracking and signatures approving the work as well. The job was completed 08/2021 but we have been in contact with this customer throughout the past year inquiring about payment. What are my legal options?
TexasI was an investor on a rehab project. The Owner on Title to the property to be rehabbed was also the Contractor. He never completed the job 4 years ago and was incarcerated shortly after only starting the rehab project(he has been in jail since). I was in litigation for 3 years on a Quiet Title Action on the property in order to gain Title. That case fell apart and was dismissed due to Lawyer Malpractice. I sued in Small Claims for a Judgement in order to obtain a Lien. I recently lost. I am trying to exhaust all possibilities in order to have a Lien placed on this property.
CaliforniaI filed a mechanical lien, and the house has sold. I thought a house cannot be sold with a lien on it.
TexasOur GC has denied requests for licenses of his subcontractors and claims the other workers are his employees, so he does not have to give us any such information. According to him, as the GC with a B license, he can hire anyone as framers, plumbers, electricians, etc. Is this true in California? After many failed inspections, and in multiple instances my wife and I having to explain the basic physics of plumbing (gravity) to the plumber or how to wire a 4-way switch to the electrician (we found it on Google in 30 seconds), we are very concerned about the quality and safety of the work. Given how many safety issues and code violations we had to point out to the workers, I anticipate costly repairs in the near future, and I expect the GC to claim nothing falls under his warranty. He already tried to blame several issues on our HVAC guy (independent sub), none of which were even remotely related to or in proximity to HVAC work. Plus I would not want his clearly unqualified people trying to repair their own substandard work. Apparently there is some CA law about suing licensed contractors for 100% of the contract value if unlicensed subs are used. Can someone help me understand this a little better? Given a $100,000 contract with the GC, what if 70% of the work (framing) was done by a licensed sub and the other 30% (plumbing and electrical) was done by the GC’s employees, and none of those employees has any type of plumbing or electrical certification? Would this law apply? If so, how could I prove the lack of certification or license? I’ve tried contacting the CSLB and various other entities with the employees’ names. Answers were either “no record of that person” or “if the GC has a B license it doesn’t matter.” In other cases we know only first names, and it’s unclear if the workers are subs or employees. Maybe these people are certified/licensed but I haven’t found the proof yet; I cannot just assume the negative because the GC won’t give up this info. What next?
CaliforniaWe are contractors and didn't get payment from a client. We missed the date to file a mechanics lien. Can we try to sue for payment?
WashingtonI'm a subcontractor and a manager but not owner of a local LLC. I signed a personal guarantee for one of our suppliers and the company I work for defaulted on payments. The supplier never filed liens against the jobs when they had the rights. I have no assets, am I able to get out of this personal guarantee?
ArizonaWe were hired to do 2 separate jobs from one client. I am a GC but was hired as a sub by a GC. completed the first job (still owes $3800 on that job) started second job, plans were wrong, his plumbing subs did their part wrong ( i had my men fix for free), did extra work, then we disagreed on something and he terminated the remaining work to be done on second contract. We agreed to the separation. He then requested most of the money we received from him for second job refunded. We sent a break down of costs including money owed from first completed job (we were generous as we just wanted to go on to our next project). the breakdown sent had us owing him $3500. He denied and said we owe much more now he got a lawyer and wants $38,000 immediately. What is our next step. We do not owe him $38,000 and dont want the CSLB involved.
CaliforniaWe are general contractor and we have some issues with jobs that are completed but the customers are not willing to pay. In several cases we already filled a claim of lien, and in some cases we also proceeded with filling a lawsuit. According to our attorney, the lien is only valid for one year and if we don't proceed with filling the lawsuit, the lien will expire. According to another attorney we have spoken with, there is an option to put a lien on the title which will not expire, can it really be done? In certain cases, we might not want to proceed with filling a a lawsuit in case that the lien will never expire...
Florida