Legal Question (1 Viewer)

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Long story short, I had low water pressure in my rent house & called a plumber to inspect my hot water tank,(dip tube to be exact).He said the water heater was not the prob. After changing 2 faucets he said my galvanaized pipes had rust in them & that was the prob. So he talks me into changing the water pipes. I paid him half & at the end of the job he tells me that the dip tube was bad after all and he had to flush the water heater 10 times to clear the debris. Well I told him I'm not paying him the other half b\c he was negligent in inspecting the water heater. Now he has liened my house. What are my chances in taking him to court & having the lien removed and recovering all I've paid him? Keep in mind he abandoned all the old water pipes, so he didnt show me the old pipes. I'm going to take him to court regardless. I'm just trying to get a feel for what I can expect when I get to court....now I find out that the water line that he changed from the water meter to the house was already pvc, he changed out the old pvc and put new pvc. he did all the work w/o a work permit, waited 171 days to call in for the inspection, which failed.
 
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Jim Everett, you have a client to deal with.

Do your job my good man
 
Wow, that sounds like some horribly unethical business practice, report him to the BBB for starters, that's something you can do. They may have some bad reports on him that they might be willing and able to show you.
 
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To answer the question, if you're just taking the guy into small claims court, and it's anything like it is here in Texas (I don't know where you are) the "judge" will just call you both up to the bench, swear you both in, then ask for your side of the story. Then he'll ask plumber his side. Then he'll ask questions to each of you. Then he'll award an amount of money that makes both you and the plumber upset.

That's if the plumber even shows up. Small claims court here is much less formal than Judge Judy.

You can request a jury also. Might be a good idea if this plumber looks as slick as he sounds. A jury might give you a better recovery.
 
Long story short, I had low water pressure in my rent house & called a plumber to inspect my hot water tank,(dip tube to be exact).He said the water heater was not the prob. After changing 2 faucets he said my galvanaized pipes had rust in them & that was the prob. So he talks me into changing the water pipes. I paid him half & at the end of the job he tells me that the dip tube was bad after all and he had to flush the water heater 10 times to clear the debris. Well I told him I'm not paying him the other half b\c he was negligent in inspecting the water heater. Now he has liened my house. What are my chances in taking him to court & having the lien removed and recovering all I've paid him? Keep in mind he abandoned all the old water pipes, so he didnt show me the old pipes. I'm going to take him to court regardless. I'm just trying to get a feel for what I can expect when I get to court....now I find out that the water line that he changed from the water meter to the house was already pvc, he changed out the old pvc and put new pvc. he did all the work w/o a work permit, waited 171 days to call in for the inspection, which failed.

I'm not a lawyer, but I do real estate title work in Louisiana.

Unless he acts on the lien, it prescribes within a year (in other words, you can pay a fee and have it wiped off the public record at your local Clerk of Court's office).

If he does act on the lien or he tries to turn you over to a collection agency, then you (rather, your lawyer) should use these nuggets against him:
1) His work was not up to inspection levels
2) He had no permit
3) He didn't give you a written quote before he jacked up the price

You need to weigh how much the crappy work/jacked up price cost versus the cost of a lawyer. Obviously, if he pushes the issue, then you'll need to hire one anyway. But my point is that it migh be cost prohibitive to force the issue rather than waiting it out as I stated above.

Good luck.

P.S.: If you're not in Louisiana, then ignore everything I just said except the part about weighing costs.
 
Wow, that sound like some horribly unethical business practice, report him to the BBB for starters, that's something you can do. They may have some bad reports on him that they might be willing and able to show you.



I did report him to the BBB, they said b/c he liened my property, they consider that to be in litigation and cannot do anything. I also reported him to the attorney generals office and the state plumbing board, which said the same thing. All they do is try to mediate.
 
To answer the question, if you're just taking the guy into small claims court, and it's anything like it is here in Texas (I don't know where you are) the "judge" will just call you both up to the bench, swear you both in, then ask for your side of the story. Then he'll ask plumber his side. Then he'll ask questions to each of you. Then he'll award an amount of money that makes both you and the plumber upset.

That's if the plumber even shows up. Small claims court here is much less formal than Judge Judy.

You can request a jury also. Might be a good idea if this plumber looks as slick as he sounds. A jury might give you a better recovery.


b/c this involves a lien, its not small claims court. we have to go to district court and resolve it. so here is where l have to get a lawyer to represent me.
 

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