The Verdict …… The Contractor with X-Ray Vision …. And the winner is?

In my opinion no one won. Contractors Read and re-read if need be, don’t do your company injustice by crossing your arms and thinking this will never happen to you.  You will see at the end of this blog the emphasis I put on the final paragraph that could quite honestly save your business substantially. 

It is believed we would be hard pressed to find many attorneys out there specializing in civil/industrial engineering as it pertains to the landscape industry. There is a realistic chance we could interview a handful before finding one that knows what an SRW is. At this time the attorney for the contractor (defense attorney) needs to start building a compelling argument and case to relieve the contractor of a financial award the homeowner was pursuing. The homeowner was determined he was due a financial reward from the contractor and was brain washed by another greedy contractor into thinking he was. The wall was technically within industry standard and was not considered failed.  That same contractor had he homeowner convinced his wall was failing and was due to lack of grid installation. The method this contractor used was his eyes on the customers torpedo level that was placed on the face of the block.  VERY IMPORTANT HERE, the contractor’s attorney contacted the VP of sales for the block manufacturer and did a phone consult. The bullet points of the discussion to this day have never been revealed. What I do know is the attorney and contractor claim the VP refused to return another phone call after the initial phone consult. Sources close to the VP of sales claim otherwise. My opinion of this accusation is this, why would an attorney and contractor seeking the assistance of a beneficial source who potentially could control the outcome of a case imply the VP was no longer making himself available to the attorney. Due to what is sighted as a lack of cooperation from the block manufacturers VP of sales, the attorney now felt forced to shift his methods to an alternative path for his case building process. A very interesting route was brilliantly chosen by the attorney who opted to position himself to summons the contractor who the homeowner contacted to view the alleged failing wall. You remember him right?  He’s the contractor with X-Ray vision, the one who said the wall was failing due to lack of Geo-grid installation. The tactic the attorney chosen was an assault on the contractors’ credibility. The attorney will request to see his wall portfolio, contact his suppliers and get copies of receipts on projects as proof of purchase for grid. The photos could have proven to be a great angle, 1^st on his agenda was viewing photos of completed wall projects and simply ask the question “can anyone pick out the walls with grid and the walls without”.  Keep in mind most photos have a traceable time and date stamp encoded on them, and today we have time, date, and location. If by some odd chance the time, date, and location were missing from the photos it is believed the chatty contractor would have proudly volunteered the date and location of the projects. 2^nd the copies of invoices; whether the invoices were voluntarily produced by the contractor or the attorney retrieved them by his own source, they would have to coincide with the photos.  If all the photos and invoices possibly should coincide, (not a chance because you can’t see through a wall to prove if Geo-Grid was or was not installed). But for argument sake let’s say they did, now comes the homeowner.  I personally had met the actual homeowner several times. I am not a medical Dr. therefore cannot legally diagnose any medical conditions, however knowing the definitions of some medical conditions I can accurately describe him. My description of him would be a schizophrenic manic depressant with split personality, in other words there is a possibility he would provide some entertainment on the stand. The following paragraph is the beginning of the end. 

The conclusion…. Read through my previous blog and the comments keeping in mind when issue turns into legal matters it becomes methodically scrutinized in sequential order. Attorneys will not allow the case to be fast forwarded in fear of potentially missing important facts. The sequential order has to be followed, every “I” must be dotted and every “T” must be crossed in every step of the process.  If they are not then the case may or may not go any further.  I believe the case would have ended at the homeowner getting in the contractors excavator without permission and knocking down the section of wall in question. However the lawsuit was filed for $130,000 subsequently was the amount the homeowner was quoted to tear down and rebuild the wall. The contractor being sued got hung up on the VP of sales never returning another phone call. He was also bothered by the lack of legal issues and exposure referenced in our industry up to this point. The potential of losing $130K forced the contractor to lose focus of keeping his 130K and a counter suit that he could have built against the homeowner and his contractor with X-Ray vision. HE settled out of court for $65K. I’m sure this was a very anguishing decision for the contractor.  After reading all of the circumstances that have unfolded, many of you would probably agree the industry needed to see this law suit go through all the necessary channels to see how it was ruled and why.

Contractors the moral of the story is PROTECT your company.  Let’s recap, every block manufacturer has a spec. and height recommendations for their walls. Know the manufacturers spec. before quoting out any project. In most cases the manufacturers “Recommend” the introduction of Geo-Grid at a height of +/- 30”. It would not be fair or my place to speculate by stereo typing in saying all Manufacturers may or may not support you in a legal matter.  However in the efforts of protecting your company you should not ass/u/me the support of the manufacturer is going to be there when you need or want it. Now I know that statement may have just angered some block manufacturers that follow this blog. The reality is there is conflicting stories in this scenario on the offered support by the block manufacturer.  So I say protect your assets by covering your basis up front and don’t become a statistic. Don’t allow a situation to get to the point where you may have to look to a manufacturer for this type of support. When purchasing your material ask the person writing up your order to put a project name on the order Be consistent and use the project name for every purchase for that project. Make sure the proper amount of Geo-Grid is on the same invoice as the wall block purchased. If there is no physical design that dictates the finished height of the wall then properly word this in your contract. If there is a change order that is going to put the wall at or past the 4’ mark then discusses engineering and additional costs with your client. If they decline then how you proceed is your call, but should advise them by not agreeing your personal warranty will be voided. Also such they sign a waiver clearing you of any present or future liabilities. Thank you for following. Follow my next blog… The Race to Zero.