Quote:
Originally posted by Z-man
Yep - I agree. It may only take a letter from your attorney stating that this issue will be further pursued in court to get the contractor to change his song.
Then again, it may turn into a long-winded lawsuit.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Did the contractor get the necessary permits from your town before starting the job? If he didn't, did he inform you that such permits were required? (Are they required on your flooring job? I don't know.) The reason I ask is this: IF permits were required for the job done, AND the contractor failed to obtain them, OR inform the homeowner of such permits, that would constitute consumer fraud. (Note: if he informed you that permits were necessary, then he's off the hook.) It may vary from state to state, but in NJ, if a contractor is found guilty of consumer fraud, he must pay treble damages to the homeowner. (treble = x3).
So, while it may take some time, it may be beneficial to pursue this in the court of law.
-Z-man.
PS: I'm in the middle of my own long-winded lawsuit against a contractor, in case you didn't guess... 
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Z, I am in litigation now for a builder who beat us for near $17k...only flawe is that it is not criminal, no one will prosecute this in nj as they all feel it is a civil matter; We have 14 charges against him for various frauds and theft by deception. We are going to a proof hearing Nov 1...they did not answer the complaints, or even care...just ignored it. So if you ever get sued in nj, just ignore it, like it will go away
in my case the guy was a scammer, he destroyed my house and i have close to $40k in damage done as he most of the housd unsided for nearly a year at this point, i have water damage, mold and then broke my ankle on the ramp i have instead of steps...the attorney is seeking treble damages and says that it would be the original contyract amount ($18k) and the damages to the home (estm $40k) added together and THEN tripled! $58k x3!...which is more than i paid for the house by a lot! He is then wanting to lein his house and charge 21% interest on the amount
The guy i am suing has a 3/4 million dollar home, another in florida and about 5 acres of land. We are gonna immediatly go after his bank accounts and levy ALL of them, we are gonna try to have the houses foreclosed on and sent to sheriff sale.
I am pursuing the $ as agressively as I can, my wife and I are even considering just selling the judgements off when we get them, but the gratifing results a nice bank account levy will have may make it hard