The criminal contractor wins.

[N80]

This is just a rant and nothing more. Just need to blow off some steam.

Years ago we hired a contractor to put a masonry fireplace in our cabin. He started work and I gave him the next advance, $5000 and he never came back. He was not licensed or insured. My wife hired him. Her bad.

We took him to small claims court. We 'won' because he did not show up.

My wife is like a bulldog so she pursued it. Bumped it up through the courts. Paid someone to serve papers which was not easy. He never has the same address. After several more court appointments that he did not show up for the judge issue a bench warrant for his arrest. In other words if he gets pulled over or whatever he is to be arrested but the cops will not go looking for him. We give up.

A year or two later we see on the police blotter that he was arrested for DUI. We figure that he should also be held for the bench warrant. We don't pursue it any further.

Six months later we get a court notification and my wife goes again assuming that they've got him. They don't. It just a new judge trying to clear back logged cases. He was subpoenaed for this one too. He does not show up. Judge shrugs her shoulders and say sometime the cops don't check for bench warrants which is kind of ridiculous. She issues another summons. We have to pay to have them served. My wife goes to court today and he's not there. Judge shrugs her shoulders and basically says there is nothing she can do other than issue another bench warrant which she did.

The moral of the story is that if you ever get in legal trouble do not bother with an expensive attorney. Just never show up for court and you will thoroughly defeat our sophisticated legal system.

I posted the beginning of this story here years ago. Someone commented that there is no way we can beat a shiftless contractor. Whoever it was was correct. We've pretty much given up.

I did keep his portable cement mixer and a bunch of shovels and picks. They have been very useful. So there's that.

 

[Thomas]

Sorry for your issue at hand...good old days might tree with short rope needed.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I'm not an attorney but having a business had people owe money.
If you're within the statute of limitations AND you have a $5,000 judgement against the guy there's still a chance you can get all of some of your money.
You could get a property lien. Anything he owns you could get to equal the $5,000...possibly with interest. I had a customer years ago who owed me money and they simply never showed up for court. I got a property lien and the local police went there with a truck, called me asking what I wanted. They customer got on the phone saying make them stop. I said if you're here in 15 minutes cash in hand I'll ask police to wait there which they did. The customer showed up in less than 15 minutes with the cash.

 

[Hay Dude]

Mechanics lein.

 

[N80]

Sorry for your issue at hand...good old days might tree with short rope needed.

I've told my wife that there is a serious downside to living in a civilized society which is that bad people feel free to do bad things without ever worrying about the person they did it too taking the matter into his own hands to resolve it.

I'm the type of person who would confront someone like him and we know where he lives now. But my wife has, very wisely, recommended I not do that. I suspect the same legal system that gives him a get-out-of-jail free card would come down on me like a ton of bricks.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

People love to poop on lawyers and used car salesmen, but contractors are the lowest of the low.

 

[N80]

@Fuddyduddy1952 and @Hay Dude, we were told that that is what the masters in equity courts that my wife attended were supposed to do but the judge told her today that if he doesn't show up they can't proceed with that. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds wrong to me, but it came from the judge.

 

[N80]

People love to poop on lawyers and used car salesmen, but contractors are the lowest of the low.

I would qualify that as 'bad contractors'. I've met one or two who were good people.

 

[Hay Dude]

@Fuddyduddy1952 and @Hay Dude, we were told that that is what the masters in equity courts that my wife attended were supposed to do but the judge told her today that if he doesn't show up they can't proceed with that. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds wrong to me, but it came from the judge.

You don’t need a judge to file a mechanics lien.

 

[Jstpssng]

I would qualify that as 'bad contractors'. I've met one or two who were good people.

As I read his comment I had one thought;
"Eddie Walker."

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I would qualify that as 'bad contractors'. I've met one or two who were good people.

I am sitting here trying to think of a good one.

I have worked with small-scale contractors who were not bad. Seems like the ones who do renovations and additions are much worse than the guys who do smaller jobs.

 

[caver]

Guy ripped me off. I should have got it in writing. My first red flag is when he didn't show up the first time and his excuse was absolute twaddle. He works a few hours and the price now much higher. Tries to blame me. I paid him and he said he would be back. He is a BBB member or something like that. I learned BBB is a joke and he lied to them about the scope of the basic remodel repair job I didn't want to do. That was last summer and I still get bitter about it. Here's another thing I noticed. He has lots of 5 star google reviews but if you look closer all the reviewers only have one review to their account. One even shares his same last name.

 

[dodge man]

I had a bad experience with painter. We finally set his stuff out on our front porch and told him not to come back. In three days he worked about 3 hours and we were pretty sure he was on drugs. We paid him something just to get him off our backs.

 

[ultrarunner]

Criminals know consequences often not going to happen on a significant scale…

It was not always like this…

There was a time a reported bike theft would lead to a be on the lookout and now $900 smash and grabs or most property crimes are ignored…

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

You don’t need a judge to file a mechanics lien.

I didn't need a judge to file a property lien either. From what I looked up the property is broader. For a contractor a mechanics lien is probably what you'd want.
As long as you're within the statute of limitations and do have a judgement all you do is go to your civil court, pay a small fee and get the lien.
You will win if everything is in order. Have the judgement paper with you, or the court will have a copy.
For $50...I'd forget it...$5,000 NO WAY!
Let the law take it's course, I wouldn't talk to him.
The court clerk can help you. In my case the sheriff's department was prepared to take whatever I said to satisfy the amount. I added in my no-show time, court costs, interest.

 

[N80]

The judge says they have to have proof of what property he actually owns before anyone can take anything. That's what the three masters in equity court appearances were for. My wife worked as a paralegal for 4-5 years and she has done the research into what he owns and there is almost nothing in his name. One old truck not worth $5000. The point is, no one would know what to take because no one knows what is actually his. We know he owns some property but it is in his wife's name and they don't even seem to be together. He lives in his parent's house. Ironically they are Christian missionaries and are out of the country long term.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong but between my wife, the judge and the clerk of court (who we have been working with) they could not find any other solutions. It is a broken system.

The actual proper solution is for the pathetic judge to issue an arrest warrant, not a bench warrant, and go arrest him. He has defied the three summons and dodged an existing bench warrant when he got arrested for DUI. What is the point of another bench warrant? And a deputy served the papers for the most recent one so they found him this time easily at his parent's house. (We hired a private server the first time and it took a while to find him).

The problem is judges almost categorically don't give a damn about petty criminals or their victims. They seem to give them miles and miles of leniency. But god forbid that upstanding folks like us cross the line once and the whole weight of the system comes down on them.

 

[AntiqueIron]

I am sitting here trying to think of a good one.

I have worked with small-scale contractors who were not bad. Seems like the ones who do renovations and additions are much worse than the guys who do smaller jobs.

One of my best friends is a retired excavation contractor. Nicest guy you’ll ever meet.

I’d say that it’s safe to say there’s two types of people in the work force. Those who genuinely love what they do and will settle for nothing short of their best work, and those wanting to make a quick buck.

Sadly the former is getting more scarce.


Me personally, I won’t hire anybody, contractor or otherwise, without having credible sources verifying their quality of work and professionalism.

 

[Hay Dude]

The judge says they have to have proof of what property he actually owns before anyone can take anything. That's what the three masters in equity court appearances were for. My wife worked as a paralegal for 4-5 years and she has done the research into what he owns and there is almost nothing in his name. One old truck not worth $5000. The point is, no one would know what to take because no one knows what is actually his. We know he owns some property but it is in his wife's name and they don't even seem to be together. He lives in his parent's house. Ironically they are Christian missionaries and are out of the country long term.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong but between my wife, the judge and the clerk of court (who we have been working with) they could not find any other solutions. It is a broken system.

The actual proper solution is for the pathetic judge to issue an arrest warrant, not a bench warrant, and go arrest him. He has defied the three summons and dodged an existing bench warrant when he got arrested for DUI. What is the point of another bench warrant? And a deputy served the papers for the most recent one so they found him this time easily at his parent's house. (We hired a private server the first time and it took a while to find him).

The problem is judges almost categorically don't give a damn about petty criminals or their victims. They seem to give them miles and miles of leniency. But god forbid that upstanding folks like us cross the line once and the whole weight of the system comes down on them.

To file a lien, the person you are filing the lien on must have some form of property ownership to lien against.
If he owns nothing that requires a UCC type filing, like real estate, a vehicle, etc. or a piece of equipment with a loan/filing, you don’t have a lot to take from him

 

[ultrarunner]

Judgement Proof?

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

In Illinois they used to have what they call a "body attachment" warrant. If you had a judgement against someone you could get this issued if they failed to pay. Then they would go arrest them. It used to be an effective way to get people to pay. I looked and they do still issue them here so the law hasn't changed here. I know that doesn't help you any though.

Our "bad" experience was with the kitchen cabinet shop. Only after we had put like half the money down did we learn he was less than upstanding. We finally did get the cabinets but it wasn't without some battles. Someone after us lost their deposit of $5000 and got nothing.

Yes the BBB is a joke. Even when we provided proof of our contacting him and no response they took his side and just listed it as a disagreement. After the next person was ripped off completely they finally listed them as a bad actor. He's out of business now so that's the good thing.