OT: Difficult Situation

[The Medway Handyman]

Finished some work today for one of my regular customers, and she asked me to have a look at her patio. She was unhappy with the way it was laid.

Didn't seem to be much wrong with it apart from a couple of slabs which wobbled and a fair bit of pointing is missing.

Turns out she is so unhappy she wants to take the company who laid it to the small claims court, as it was only laid a few months ago. She asked me to give her a report on its condition.

I don't really know much about the subject, laying patios is not something I do, although I know the basics.

Problem is, I want to be helpful to the customer, but I certainly don't want to be piggy in the middle. If I give her a report saying "some slabs appear to be unstable & the pointing is below standard" am I letting myself in for trouble?

Last thing I want is to waste a day in a small claims court. Could I be made to appear as a witness if I offer an opinion?

[Sean Inglis]

I think you've answered the question yourself. If you admittedly don't know much about the subject, how much weight would you expect your opinion to carry if the other company pipes up and defends itself?

Nothing to stop you attesting to the fact that some slabs wobble and some pointing is missing, but it seems to me that she could get anyone to do that.

[Andy Hall]

I would politely decline, pointing out that it's not your area of expertise and if questioned, your information may not hold water.

Suggest she takes photos and videos.

[Tony Bryer]

Highly unlikely: no one is going to subpoena a witness unless they are fairly sure of what they will say.

If you did appear you would be an "expert witness" - I have been such - thus (in theory) appearing as a 'friend of the court' and not as a partisan witness and unlike regular witnesses an expert witness is entitled to express an opinion, not just state what he has witnessed. Equally if the case is contested you can expect your experience and qualifications in the subject area to be probed hard by the other side, and I would agree with what others have already said.

Apart from anything else, court cases can be incredibly time wasting and you might feel bad about billing someone for five hours, if all but 15 minutes was spent sitting at the back of the court waiting to be called.

[Owain]

Tell her to get a building surveyor (RICS) - they're qualified and insured to give opinions.

You'd be much better off estimating for the repair work needed :-)

Owain

[Chris George]

On 17 Jun, 00:10, "The Medway Handyman" wrote:

Dear Dave You are either a witness of fact or and expert witness. Clearly, you are not the latter as in order to do so you would have to be expert and your report would have to comply with Part 35 of the Regulations applicable after Lord Wolfe has had his way with the Civil Procedure Rules some years ago. In essence no matter who is paying you, you are responsible only to the Court to give your opinion and you must provide all sources of information and CV etc as per the CPR. I am pretty sure that for a small claim you would not be required to be there in person and that is likely even to apply to some cases in the County Court. Your evidence is not expert. It is a matter of fact, i.e. the defects which the Claimant can prove, as has been pointed out quite rightly by another on this forum, by means of photographs and a report written by herself. No expertise is required! Either the job is fit for the purpose or, as appears to be the case, is not! It is pretty unlikely that a jobbing botcher will bother to turn up to defend himself and if he does he has to argue the case to a Judge (or, more likley, Recorder) against photographic evidence. It is not unknown such persons to try the art of b******** the Judge in the same way as they do defencless female customers which is a sure-fire way to lose the case or at least that has been my experience. I would advise you not to get involved. Tell her to look up how to make small claims if that is what she wants to do - there is a leaflet provided by the Courts. In the unlikely event that she tries to subpoena you, you can write to the effect that you are not expert and that the only way you could help the court can be much better done by means of photographic evidence. Plead also that you would suffer a loss and that it would be a waste of the Court's time. I think the chances are vanishingly small! Chris Chris

[Cicero]

================================== A picture (or a few )is worth a thousand words so clear photographs are the best evidence here.

It might be worth checking that the customer has actually asked the company to remedy the defective work which seems to require very effort. If she hasn't given them a chance to do the necessary work then she will get very little sympathy from a Judge.

Cic.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Note also that a county court judgment against the botcher is not worth the paper it is printed on, since there is no power to send in bailiffs if the debt remains unpaid.

And most one man and a dog outfits won't pay..

[John Stumbles]

If the case went through the small claims track (popularly known as small claims court) neither side could call expert witnesses.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

Yes you can, as someone who wrote a report on a PC that had faults, I was forced to appear in court even though all I did was write the report (for free) on the understanding that it would be presented to the builder so they could rectify faults.