Martin

just left, having dropped off the report. Pretty clear cut, not really a narrative, but straightforward.

I told him that I kinda wanted more of an inventory under the house, including pics. He said he could do that, but that I probably wouldn't need it to get started. When I said, that I wanted full reports before even filing a claim against the bond, he stopped me. He said that what I had in my hand was enough to file the claim. If we have to go to court, then we'll need more docs, but to get the Licensing Board involved, we have all we need.

When I told him about the letter and the statements of "extortion" and threats to force us to pay legal fees, he shook his head again.

First, he said, it'll never get to court. The CSLB will push him to settle. If we do have to take him to court, we should do small claims court. We can only ask for $7500, but there are no lawyers allowed in small claims court.

Interesting.

This weekend, after the game, we'll need to look all of this over much more closely...

lawyer letter

Just received a letter from Anthony B Gordon ("A Professional Law Corporation"... are there amateurs?)

the highlight: they're claiming that the "M" pipes were pre-existing... right, and that's why we never had a leak in 15 years, but now have had one within two... right.

"Should you wish to take this further, you are invited to follow the procedures set out in the contract under the heading "Arbitration of Disputes." This mandates resort to an arbitration proceeding in the event of any dispute, and provides that the prevailing party will recover its attorney fees and costs."

In other words, don't fuck with us, we'll make YOU pay.

Need to take some time this (long) weekend to review the contract and consider the options... including going directly to the bond issuer.

Of course, still waiting on Martin to do his documentation of the plumbing.