Legal Question in Construction Law in California
small claims
basically, elderly parents gave a contractor money to do a job and never did the work. we requested the money back and he said ok but yet to hear from him. to avoid the stress from all this, they are both very confusable(?), i took a loan out to reimburse them as if it came from the contractor. My question: can i legally take him to small claims to get my money? as if i am acting on their behalf or ?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: small claims
Yes, you probably can get an 'assignment' from them and then bring action. If the amount is less than $7500 you can file in small claims court. If way over that amount, then hire an attorney to file in Superior Court.
Re: small claims
Technically, I suppose, your case would be a little cleaner if you had forthrightly bought their claim; then you would have standing as the "real party in interest" and not be in the somewhat compromised position where, if the parents were subpoenaed to testify, they would have to say, "Oh, the contractor paid us back in full, he doesn't owe us anything," but if this guy is unlicensed, it'll never get that far, and you are likely to get a default judgment, or if he shows up in Small Claims, he'll have so much problem with his lack of a license that the question of your standing (ownership of the claim) is unlikely to be questioned.
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