Getting ripped off by a contractor is no fun. Not only do you run the risk of losing a lot of money, but you might ultimately discover you have very little recourse. Fighting back against construction fraud is especially difficult when instances of fraud do not rise to the level of criminal prosecution. That makes them civil matters.
Civil court is where parties take their non-criminal disputes. In some states, all accusations of construction fraud are managed in civil court. In other states, the alleged offense needs to rise to a certain level before it is considered a crime. Any actions that do not meet the threshold are considered civil offenses.
Suing the Contractor
Although construction fraud cases can involve dollar amounts as little as a few hundred dollars, most cases run into the thousands. A good example is a homeowner who puts down $1,000 on a $10,000 roofing job. Although the down payment is only 10%, it is still a lot of money for the homeowner.
What does the homeowner do if the contractor takes the down payment and never shows up to do the work? One option is to sue. The homeowner would take the contractor to civil court to either get his money back or force the contractor to do the work.
A similar situation involving partial work is also pretty common. Perhaps the contractor shows up for the tear off but doesn’t return the next day to begin applying the new roof. Now the homeowner’s property is in jeopardy. He would have to hire another contractor to finish the job and then take the first contractor to court.
Obtaining a Judgment
The goal of taking the contractor to court is obtaining a judgment against him. If a monetary judgment is awarded, the homeowner would be entitled to receive a refund for work not performed along with interest, legal fees, and extra money to cover any additional costs incurred as a result of the fraud.
On the one hand, winning a civil judgment provides a homeowner width relief. On the other hand, obtaining a judgment does not guarantee payment. Unlike verdicts rendered in criminal cases, judgments in civil cases are not enforced by the court. The losing party is not hauled off to county jail and held until he pays what he owes.
According to Salt Lake City’s Judgment Collectors, this particular aspect of civil court can entice a judgment debtor to simply not pay. That contractor who has a habit of ripping off customers knows just how hard it is to collect civil judgments. He also knows the right tactics to delay paying long enough to encourage a homeowner to just give up.
Homeowners Do Have Options
Judgment Collectors says that experienced judgment debtors are counting on the fact that their creditors do not know how the system works. They play the waiting game, avoiding payment for as long as necessary in hopes of winning a victory by frustrating the creditor.
The good news for homeowners is that there are options for forcibly collecting outstanding judgments. For example, homeowners can place liens on contractor properties. They can seek writs of seizure against nonexempt business assets for the purposes of taking those assets and selling them.
When construction fraud is a criminal matter, homeowners have the benefit of criminal prosecution on their side. But when the fraud is a civil matter, things are different. A homeowner needs to go after a contractor using different means. It is not always easy. Nonetheless, a civil judgment is the first step in recovering what was lost.