Posted on 02/04/2006 6:08:17 PM PST by Dooderbutt
I live in Palm Beach County and we just received notification of a Lien against our house from the company who put the temporary roof (tarp)on our house for FEMA/Blue Roof after hurricane Wilma.
You need a lawyer. Try to get a decent recommendation or two, maybe from a small contractor or a banker who does residential lending. Lawyers they know may usually be on the "other side," but they should know this area of the law. There may be a local lawyer's referral service that can make a recommendation-in Texas, most county bar associations have a referral service. The referral service usually refers folks to young lawyers trying to build a practice, but an energetic, young lawyer may be just what you need. Be sure you understand the lawyer's fee structure before you retain him or her, and if possible, get the lawyer to give you the name of a former or current client who can vouch for the lawyer's competence. If the lawyer's fee will be a problem for you, contact a local legal aid office or bar association and tell them about your need for counsel.
Unless some special federal statute applies to your situation (which I strongly doubt), the state statutes and case law are likely very straightforward.
You mean this bill wasn't for making your roof whole, but putting on some tarps? After Andrew in '92, "roofer" was a curse word. Something's definitely fishy.
Be sure to call your Attorney General's office about this extortion attempt.
Sounds like garden variety extortion to me. Start with your local municipal government office and police. They may be able to shed a lot of light on this. This contractor is committing a crime, and you're probably not the first victim. Be sure to find out if this contractor required any kind of license to perform this work (unfortunately, many state and local governments specifically waived a lot of contractor licensing requirements that are normally in effect). Find out of this contractor is licensed ANYWHERE. If so, file a complaint with that licensing authority, and with the Better Business Bureau in that area.
Where is the written contract with your signature, where you agreed to pay this amount for certain specified work? Doesn't exist, I'm sure. Call your county courthouse and put in writing to whoever they tell you, that you have reason to believe that someone may attempt to file a fraudulent lien on your house. That might be enough to stop the lien from being filed, if the court demands more information when (if) they attempt to file.
Since the threat refers to specific federal agencies, send a copy to your Congressperson, with a letter of explanation. I suspect this construction outfit is violating some federal laws by sending this letter, even without actually following through and filing the lien.
Contact your local newspaper and TV station. They may not do anything right away, but if they get multiple reports of the same type of thing, either by the same contractor, or by multiple contractors, they'll start making a lot of noise, and that will light a fire under local authorities.
Be aggressive. Let the contractor know that you know that filing this false lien would be committing a crime, and that you will make sure they get nailed to the wall if they don't cease and desist immediately, and that you'll probably make sure they get nailed to the wall even if they DO cease and desist immediately. Let them know that a copy of their letter, and accompanying letter of explanation from you has been sent to the local, county, and state law enforcement, the Florida Department of Labor, your Congressperson, FEMA, the US Army Corp of Engineers, PRTS Inc., Direct Installation Services, Bramer Construction, your insurance company, and your mortgageholder. And really send it to all of those parties. Scare them. Let them know they made a big mistake in targeting you. I'm sure they're doing this to multiple people, and they don't really care if they have to back away from a few. Put yourself at the top of their list of targets to back away from.
No, they cannot take your house. They are hoping to scare you into "settling" for a smaller amount, but still more than you or anyone owes them. But if they actually file a lien (which they may not have any real intention of doing) they can cause you all sorts of hassle and expense to get it lifted.
Be careful about jailhouse lawyers who tell you someone cannot take your house. I would be very surprised if a contractor with a properly documented and perfected lien could not take your house, since being able to take collateral protects contractors/lenders from unfair losses. The contractor in this case may not have a proper lien; but to find out, you need a lawyer. Get one.
To everyone who replied - thank you so much for your help. I'm really going to kick some butt here!!
I would contact a lawyer and seek an injunction against the lean immediately...some states have weird mechanics leans laws. I don't know the law in Florida, but I do know that stranger things have happened. There are similar laws in Texas that were intended to provide contractors with recourse when home owners unscrupulously refused to pay them. An injunction will give you time to sort everything out with FEMA without having to worry about the threat of a forced sale. There was a case recently here in Houston where a Home Owners association forced the sale of an 86 year old widow's house for something like $1800 in past due association dues.
You are welcome. The FS that deals with leins is
713. It can be found by going to www.myflorida.com. I think there is a view laws and statutes section.
I am assuming that you did not have a direct contract with whoever put your tarps on. The ACE would have contracted that work out and ACE would have paid those contractors and subcontractors. Here is a list of some agencies and departments you might find helpful
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation/ contractor licensing division. Issues licenses to and regulates state certified contractors.
Florida Secretary of State. Division of Corporations.
You can see if a company is incorporated in Florida or if a fictious name exists for a company.
Code of Federal Regulations. You can find this by doing a web search. The act the letter cites would be in the CFR if such an act exists.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. They handle fraud complaints.
Hope some of this helps.
This would be right up Geraldo's alley for a show. Just remember your name is Jose and your wife's is Juanita.
Sounds like a scam.
Contact Christ's office and a local consumer advocate because you can bet others got this mail.
Personally I'd send a return mail stuffed with Monopoly money.
In the past, whenever I have emailed JEB, he has emailed me back within the same day. I would bet that JEB would find the bill for your tarps to be very interesting.
jeb@jeb.org
If you decide to start a ping list, please put me on it. I'd like to hear about your progress and the result.
Additionally, the exhorbitant price this company has charged for installing two small tarps is worth taking this issue to the local news and/or the office of the Attorney General. I wouldn't turn these felons loose until they screamed "uncle."
Muleteam1
You have no immediate problem and time is on YOUR side, not the contractor.
By all means, contact the TV stations. They're always looking for stories like this. If if bleeds, it leads. Play the victim. Let them do the researching on their dime.
See what falls out. Contractors hate negative public exposure more than anything. Let them know you're contacting the media. They may want to talk turkey.
If all your poker maneuvers fail, only then call a mouthpiece. People always urge some victim to hire a lawyer right off the bat....but then, they don't have to cough up the $250 bucks an hour.
Stay cool....and smart. See if your county state's attorney can help you. He may have had other complaints. At least call his office and talk to somebody there.
Leni
I would contact the local media AND a good attorney. Sue their butts off.
$11,706.00 to put two tarps on a $7,000 roof? This sounds like something funny is up.
Since you have a bill for the actual repair, and the FEMA paperwork, I'd contact the county prosecutor, the courts, and the US Congress Office of Money and Budget. If they really are trying to bill you that much for this work, they are clearly ripping off FEMA - might be why they didn't get paid.
That also sounds like they intend to file a lien - you can't just slap one on somebody's property without telling them about the hearing so they can contest it. Channel 12 would probably have a good time with this, too.
The County Bar Association might also take an interest in this attorney. They have an ethics committee and few sane attorneys want to appear in front of it.
The contractor also sounds like he should lose his license in the state. Might want to go on the attack and inform these people that they are playing a very bad game.
I can't help but ask how many of these little tarps FEMA paid $11k for???? HOLY COW!
Sounds like a scam to me, If one out of a fifty letters conned someone into sending a $11,000 check to the cons they would have a pretty good haul.
I'd check this out with the DA's Office and see if others had received this offer also.
I looked up info on the Miller Act. This is what I found
http://www.sio.org/html/miller.html The information about the act confirms my view that the letter writer is trying to extort money from you. The Miller act allows a sub contractor to file a claim against the bond posted by the contractor on Federal projects. Sure does not say anything about against the property owner.
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