QUESTION
Can we only go to small claims court for a carpenter who collected over $7500 in deposit from 3 family members and completed only a 1/4 of one job?
Asked on May 26th, 2020 on Criminal Law - Virginia
More details to this question:
My sisters and I hired a carpenter to do 2 decks and a fence at our homes. Between the three of us he collected over $7500 in deposits. Two of us hired him For decks and the other for a fence. He did a 1/4 of one deck and stopped. We have reached out and he had a lot of excuses. He has since stopped all communications. Upon a background check he has numerous judgements and other crimes against him. Is their any criminal action we can take together. We know we will get a judgement against him in small claims but he will never pay so its a waste of time. He is on probation so we thought if he was facing criminals charges he might want to finish the jobs. We are in Virginia Beach VA
1 ANSWER
1 Award
You have three separate courses of action. You can meet with police about filing a criminal action or you can file a small claims suit, or both. I would not anticipate that if you file a criminal action that he would finish the job. In fact, he would probably either be held in jail or be ordered to have no contact with you. So my opinion is that a criminal action isn't the way to compel him to finish. Also, you should be aware that you may not be permitted to withdraw the criminal charge once you take it out. That decision will be up to the Commonwealth's attorney's office. I hope that helps.
Answered on May 27th, 2020 at 5:44 AM
Please note that this does not constitute an attorney-client relationship nor is it legal advice.