Legal Question in Construction Law in California
construction defect
i was working for a general contractor
doing slabs. an was asked to help
repair some curb & gutter that the
city wanted removed & replaced, & to
help correct existing issues on an
existing job that was completed by
another sub who was let go for bad
work after he was done. i did the
repairs and found out later that the
general was being sued buy the hoa
for pour design. now the general is
suing me and using my insurance to
cover him self. my sir is more than
the work i did, and i would never
have done any work if i knew he was
being sued. he hired me to fix his
problem, but the hoa was not
satisfied so now he is using my
insurance in the lawsuit. what are
my rights? he did this on three
tracts? which he knew he was being
sued. theses problems were pre-
existing before i was even hired.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: construction defect
The bad news is, if you do nothing, you will lose potentially a lot, even if you are right. So first, you have to accept the fact that you need to hire an attorney. If you choose me, the first thing I will try to do is to get your insurance to pay for my attorney fees and costs in defending you so it doesn't come out of your pocket. Then, I will lay out the case to the contractor in a detailed letter in a way that hopefully he will lose his desire to come after you, including any possible cause of action against him. You are also right that you may have to defend yourself and prove that he did this intentionally and that the problems existed before you got there. This situation sounds like you have a good chance at resolving this. I can be pretty aggressive and that sounds like what you need right now. Let me know if you want me. If you want to discuss, email or call my office.
Best,
Daniel Bakondi Esq.
IMPORTANT:
No attorney-client nor confidential relationship is created through this communication. You may not rely in any way on this communication, and nothing herein constitutes legal advice nor legal opinion. Your issue may be time sensitive and may result in loss of rights if you do not obtain an attorney immediately.
Re: construction defect
I'm sorry this has happened to you. Luckily you have insurance. Unfortunately, as the previous post has stated, if you do nothing, this will end badly for you. On the flip side, and in addition to attempting to negotiate a release with all the parties involved, you have nice leverage by way of a nice claim for 'fraud in the inducement' against the general. This claim means that essentially the general withheld material information (the fact that he had three existing claims) from you intentionally and you have been damaged as a result. We are handling a similar case involving a general and sub right now.
If you are serious about obtaining representation, feel free to contact us. Whatever you do, don't try to address this alone. Hire an attorney.
www.SoCalConstructionLaw.com
P. 714.904.1669
Best of Luck!
Re: construction defect
Get an experienced attorney and follow his advice. He'll probably tell you to file your lawsuit and hope for the best.