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Question on Suing someone

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roddyj

Guest
What is the name of your state? NJ

I have engaged a contractor (unfortunately he is not licensed) to do work and I have paid for the work in full but the job is only 9/10 complete and the contractor is no longer responding to my calls to finish. I therefore would like to sue him.

My question is the following: this contractor also works for a local electrical contracting house and he has done work at my house utilizing his employers assets (truck, ladders, equipment, etc.) - what I would like to do is to draft a non binding letter (drafted by an attorney on legal letterhead) naming both the contractor and his employer as possible targets of a potential lawsuit.

Now to state clearly, my intent with this letter is to only motivate the contractor to do the work - motivating him via pressure that his employer would put on him and hopefully the pressure he puts on himself to avoid a lawsuit. My intent would never be to actually file suit against his employer - it only would threaten this potential action in a letter. Can I legally do this ? And would an attorney agree to do this even though my intention would only be to sue the contractor not the electrical supply house ?

Please advise your opinion.
 


JETX

Senior Member
Q1) "My question is the following: this contractor also works for a local electrical contracting house and he has done work at my house utilizing his employers assets (truck, ladders, equipment, etc.) - what I would like to do is to draft a non binding letter (drafted by an attorney on legal letterhead) naming both the contractor and his employer as possible targets of a potential lawsuit."
A1) Not really a question there, but your 'side deal' with the individual has no bearing on the 'worker' that you contracted with (and unlicensed at that!!).. and I assume any response by him would say the same thing! And I would have to wonder about any attorney who would even consider writing a letter as you claim.

Q2) "Now to state clearly, my intent with this letter is to only motivate the contractor to do the work - motivating him via pressure that his employer would put on him and hopefully the pressure he puts on himself to avoid a lawsuit."
A2) Lets put this in simple English.... you are trying to coerce his compliance by letting his employer know that the individual is hiring himself out after hours. Further you are 'hoping' that the contractor (the one you were too cheap to hire in the first place), will step in and do the work for free (wouldn't that be wonderful!).
And when the employee loses his job, he may very well decide to take YOU to court for your action or worse, he may just decide to stop by for a talk!

Q3) "My intent would never be to actually file suit against his employer - it only would threaten this potential action in a letter. Can I legally do this ?"
A3) Yes, you can do it (after all, almost anyone can sue almost anyone else over almost anything!), but I think it would be a CS thing to do.

Q4) "And would an attorney agree to do this even though my intention would only be to sue the contractor not the electrical supply house ?"
A4) None that I know.

"Please advise your opinion."
Quit trying to look for sleazy solutions to the problem that YOU brought on yourself (by being too cheap to hire a licensed contractor) and send the guy a letter threatening HIM with a lawsuit. Leave the contractor out of YOUR squabble.
 
R

roddyj

Guest
Halket -
Appreciate the candid response. I wanted to add some clarifying responses to your coments.


Q2) "Now to state clearly, my intent with this letter is to only motivate the contractor to do the work - motivating him via pressure that his employer would put on him and hopefully the pressure he puts on himself to avoid a lawsuit."
A2) Lets put this in simple English.... you are trying to coerce his compliance by letting his employer know that the individual is hiring himself out after hours. Further you are 'hoping' that the contractor (the one you were too cheap to hire in the first place), will step in and do the work for free (wouldn't that be wonderful!).
And when the employee loses his job, he may very well decide to take YOU to court for your action or worse, he may just decide to stop by for a talk!

Clarification) Your assumption on "after hours" is incorrect. The individual was engaged during normal business hours, whilst he was a rep. from the electrical contractor (as we had hired them to work in my house). Additionally the individual has done work both during normal and customary business hours and nights and weekends. And, to reinforce my original comments, a good portion of this work was completed with assets from the electrcial supply house and done during normal businesss hours.

Also, the "cheap" comment is inaccurate - the eletrical contractor house does electrical work not general contracting (gc) work - and gc work comprised 90% of the work we are doing. So, no, my efforts are not to have the electrical contractor come in and finish the job - my efforts are simple (as stated) to coerce / force the individual to complete the job via this letter.

Finally, agree that the individual may have a potential suit against me because of this letter - however, could I avoid this by following up with the orginal letter with an additional letter stating that after further consultation with my attorney we have decided we are only pursuing the individual not xxxx electrical contractors and copy the individual contractor on this (sending it out 1 week after the original letter)?

Lastly, I won't even grace your "or worse, he may just decide to stop by for a talk!" with a response - I believe this ridiculous comment speaks for itself.


Q4) "And would an attorney agree to do this even though my intention would only be to sue the contractor not the electrical supply house ?"
A4) None that I know.

Clarification) Based on the additional facts and clarifications outlined above - is this still your answer ?


"Please advise your opinion."
Quit trying to look for sleazy solutions to the problem that YOU brought on yourself (by being too cheap to hire a licensed contractor) and send the guy a letter threatening HIM with a lawsuit. Leave the contractor out of YOUR squabble

Clarification) I wasnt aware that engaging an attorney and sending a letter was sleazy. (or posting a question to a legal help website)

This is a personal comment based on your responses - my impression was that attorneys were not suppose to assume facts and details exist and that they would only render an opinion on what they know not what they assume. Furthermore, if they require additional information they would / should seek it out. You may want to practice this as I am certain it would benefit your clients.
 

JETX

Senior Member
My reply as to your APPARENT use of a non-licensed contractor comes solely from your post:

"I have engaged a contractor (unfortunately he is not licensed) to do work and I have paid for the work in full but the job is only 9/10 complete"

"this contractor also works for a local electrical contracting house and he has done work at my house utilizing his employers assets (truck, ladders, equipment, etc.)"

My obvious assumption (and I think anyone elses) was that you had direct hired a 'worker' (you now call 'individual') who normally works for a licensed contractor to come and do 'extra' work away from his normal (licensed) work.

With this new 'spin'..... you need to clarify which of the following:
Is your agreement with the 'individual' (unlicensed) or the 'contractor' (licensed)???

If your 'work agreement' was directly negotiated and agreed with the individual (unlicensed), then my comments stand.

If your 'work agreement' was directly negotiated and agreed with the contractor (licensed), then why even involve him personally in your problem?? Contract the contractor (the real one... with the license) and have him complete the work. If he doesn't, sue him for your damages.
 
R

roddyj

Guest
Understand yor assumption - however it is not fully correct. The individual contractor was hired to do work outside the scope and domain of the electrical supply house. However, there was some overlap, about 10-20% of the work does full under the same scope and domain as the electrical supply house (ironically, most of the incomplete work is in this category).

The work agreement was between myself and the individual contractor.

The one simple question is - can I have an attorney send both the electrical supply house and the individual contractor a letter stating that "I am representing XXX we are currrently discussing next steps in a POSSIBLE civil law suit against 1) individual contractor and 2) electrical supply house for work that remains incomplete but that was fully paid for....."?

It seems that you are already discussing whether or not I have cause to go after the supply house - this isn't the point. I understand that I don't - the question is can I legally send this letter ? (or is slander, fraud or am i libel for doing it ?)

Finally, and this is probably where I should have begun, lets clearly state my goals for sending such a letter:

1) have the individual contractor complete the work I paid for
OR
2) Make certain his employer knows what the individual contractor has been doing with his assets, potentially have him lose him job because of these actions (remember even though this was outside of my relationship with the supply house - this individual did steal work work away from his employer while he was working and he did use his employers assets to do this) and to seek damages agains the individual via a law suit.
 

JETX

Senior Member
We have now come 'full circle' and are right back at my original reply.

Q3) "My intent would never be to actually file suit against his employer - it only would threaten this potential action in a letter. Can I legally do this ?"
A3) Yes, you can do it (after all, almost anyone can sue almost anyone else over almost anything!), but I think it would be a CS thing to do.

Q4) "And would an attorney agree to do this even though my intention would only be to sue the contractor not the electrical supply house ?"
A4) None that I know.

"Please advise your opinion."
Quit trying to look for sleazy solutions to the problem that YOU brought on yourself (by being too cheap to hire a licensed contractor) and send the guy a letter threatening HIM with a lawsuit. Leave the contractor out of YOUR squabble.
 

stephenk

Senior Member
I dont know of any ethical attorney (there are a few) that will send a letter threatening legal action against a person or entity when the attorney knows there is no legal basis to make such a claim.

What you are attempting to do is extortion against the employer of the guy you entered into a contract with. That is illegal.
 

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