Title: November 22, 2006
Q. I hired someone to put decorative curbs at my house. He did the mixing, including a dye to the cement right on my driveway, which is now stained. When I complained to him about it, he first appeared to be responsive. He promised to come and clean it up, but he never showed up. I feel a lawsuit is in order, but he only has a cell phone number on his business card, and when I call him, he acts like he cannot hear me. That is always the end of the conversation. I do not have a physical address on him. What can I do?
A. I suggest you hire a private investigator to get an address behind the cell phone number you already have. You can include the cost of the private investigator as part of your damages in your lawsuit. If the curbs look the way you were expecting them to look, you damages would only be for the stained driveway. Get an estimate from another contractor and find out how much it would cost to clean the driveway.
Q. My son and his friend were playing in my backyard, and my dog nipped the friend. The bite broke the skin, but no stitches were required. What do I do now?
A. Pay for the doctor to look the wound over and to take care of it. As I am sure you know, you are liable for any damage inflicted by your dog to any guests coming onto your property. Be very apologetic with the child’s parents and offer to take care of any expenses associated with the incident. .
Q. We own a 12-acre piece of land with a cabin that we use on the weekend. It is entirely fenced and has “no trespassing” signs around it. Yet, people come and ride their dirt bikes on our land. We have called the police, but the motorcyclists are usually gone by the time the police get there. Howe can we stop them?
A. You can try to obtain the license number off the motorcycles in order to obtain the names and addresses of the offenders, and sue them for trespassing. If that does not work, and you are simply not there when the trespassing occurs, you can place spikes in strategic places on your land. A few flat tires later, they might learn their lesson. Of course, if one of them gets hurt when falling off his dirt bike because he has a flat tire, you might get sued for his personal injury. However since he is trespassing on your land, you would probably prevail.
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 14 years of experience. She practices law from her Tehachapi office as well as her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers to the best of her abilities. Email your questions to maxinedev@msn.com or fax to (661)825-8880
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