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
Showing posts with label trespassers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trespassers. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Legal Eaze #12 Cattle Snow/ Abusive Husband
Originally Printed: December 29, 2004
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her home office in Alpine Forest, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. We normally have snow by now. I have acres of land on a slope and located where it is easy for children to invade my property to snow play. Last year, kids damaged my fence and a few cattle got out. Although I repaired the fence and managed to get all my cattle back, how do I avoid a repeat this year?
A. Short of building a high fence around your property and placing signs in various strategic places, as well as standing around to shoo away any trespassers, it might be difficult to stop children from coming onto your property to play. The combination “slope and snow” is what we call an “attractive nuisance” in legal terms. You may even be held responsible if a kid gets hurt on your property. I remember last year, Kern County sheriffs were stopping people from going up to Alpine Forest for that very reason. It is unfortunate that there are insufficient parking spaces at Tehachapi Mountain Park for these families to go up there to play and leave surrounding private properties intact. Just make sure that you have your fence up and have “no trespassing” signs at various locations in order to discourage the invaders as well as potential lawsuits should injuries occur on your land. Keep an eye out to ensure your fence does not get damaged again and write down the license plate number of the vehicles that brought the “destroyers”. It is an excellent way to track down the parents of those children that cause damage to your property and hold them responsible.
Q. My husband drinks a lot and becomes abusive and violent. This is a time of the year where a lot of people are drinking and he thinks this validates an increase in the number of drinks he can have. I fear for myself and my children during the holidays. It is worse than at any other times. What should I do?
A. I am sorry that the holidays are an unhappy time of the year for you. If your husband does not realize how he is harming his family by his heavy drinking, it may be time for you to seek refuge elsewhere. Do you have family or a friend that you can go visit, taking your children with you? By removing yourself and your children from you home, you remove the temptation for your husband to abuse you. It is difficult to decide to leave your husband now, but once you put some distance between and the abuser, you may have a clearer view of your situation. I wish you the wisdom to make the right decision.
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her home office in Alpine Forest, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. We normally have snow by now. I have acres of land on a slope and located where it is easy for children to invade my property to snow play. Last year, kids damaged my fence and a few cattle got out. Although I repaired the fence and managed to get all my cattle back, how do I avoid a repeat this year?
A. Short of building a high fence around your property and placing signs in various strategic places, as well as standing around to shoo away any trespassers, it might be difficult to stop children from coming onto your property to play. The combination “slope and snow” is what we call an “attractive nuisance” in legal terms. You may even be held responsible if a kid gets hurt on your property. I remember last year, Kern County sheriffs were stopping people from going up to Alpine Forest for that very reason. It is unfortunate that there are insufficient parking spaces at Tehachapi Mountain Park for these families to go up there to play and leave surrounding private properties intact. Just make sure that you have your fence up and have “no trespassing” signs at various locations in order to discourage the invaders as well as potential lawsuits should injuries occur on your land. Keep an eye out to ensure your fence does not get damaged again and write down the license plate number of the vehicles that brought the “destroyers”. It is an excellent way to track down the parents of those children that cause damage to your property and hold them responsible.
Q. My husband drinks a lot and becomes abusive and violent. This is a time of the year where a lot of people are drinking and he thinks this validates an increase in the number of drinks he can have. I fear for myself and my children during the holidays. It is worse than at any other times. What should I do?
A. I am sorry that the holidays are an unhappy time of the year for you. If your husband does not realize how he is harming his family by his heavy drinking, it may be time for you to seek refuge elsewhere. Do you have family or a friend that you can go visit, taking your children with you? By removing yourself and your children from you home, you remove the temptation for your husband to abuse you. It is difficult to decide to leave your husband now, but once you put some distance between and the abuser, you may have a clearer view of your situation. I wish you the wisdom to make the right decision.
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