Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Unlicensed contractor was awarded money in small claims case - is this right?
I hired an unlicensed contractor for my bath remodel based on his representation that he was licensed but later found out he in fact was not. His work was grossly defective and I decided to sever the relationship less than half way into the project. To make a long story short, I mistakenly paid him for more than the percentage of work he did and asked for my $4,000 check back. I told him that I had placed a stop payment on the check and we agreed to talk about a different amount for his time. He cashed the check anyway and sued me for the $4,000 stop payment check. In small claims court, the judge pro tem ruled in his favor of approx. $3,000, even after the contractor admitted in court that he was unlicensed. Through my research there after, I learned that unlicensed contractors are not entitled to money... or are they? Why would the judge pro tem rule in the unlicensed contractor's favor if the law codes says that you must be licensed to claim any money? Have I misunderstood the law codes? Or is it possible that the judge pro tem didn't rule this by the law books? I plan to appeal and any knowledge, thoughts or insight anyone has on the judgement or advice with my appeal would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
3 Answers from Attorneys
You should win your appeal. It might be worth it to have a local lawyer write a brief to give to the judge hearing your appeal.
A small claims court defendant that loses can appeal. A losing plaintiff can not. File your appeal, and hire an attorney to properly present your case..
Small claims judges are usually volunteer temporary judges, and even in counties that can afford and justify full time commissioners to hear small claims cases, they cannot be up on all the details of the law, nor do they have the time to do independent research if they are not tipped off that there is a legal issue they don't know about. You are right about the law, but you should have done the research before the hearing so you could have raised the issue for the judge. The advice that you pay an attorney a few hundred dollars to write you a brief on this issue for the appeal is very good advice.
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