{"id":857,"date":"2009-02-17T21:20:35","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T02:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iomaire.com\/?p=857"},"modified":"2009-02-17T21:44:11","modified_gmt":"2009-02-18T02:44:11","slug":"a-cautionary-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/2009\/02\/17\/a-cautionary-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cautionary Tale"},"content":{"rendered":"

I own 11.5 acres of wooded land in Floyd County, Virginia. It is what is known as “land locked” – that is, it does not front on a public road. But I have a non-exclusive right-of-way across my neighbor’s land for access. As I posted<\/a> last fall, I had a driveway built in that right-of-way so that I could get to my property. And therein lies the explanation for my recent lack of posts.<\/p>\n

On December 29, 2008, I received what is known as a “Warrant-in-Debt” from the Commonwealth of Virginia in Richmond. That turned out to be a lawsuit which was filed against me by a contractor (not the one who built the driveway!!) in Floyd County who alleged that I had entered into a “verbal contract” with him to build the driveway. He was asking for $5,140.50 in damages. Needless to say, this did not make me very happy. I hired an attorney, bought plane tickets, rented a vehicle, and appeared in court in Floyd County on February 12. I lost the case, but I “only” had to pay $750 plus court costs of $69.<\/p>\n

I had some very good friends who testified on my behalf, which I deeply appreciate. If not for them, I most likely would have had to pay much more. There are some very fine people in Floyd County, but there is at least one very bad apple who I am quite sure will not be giving my name out as a reference!<\/p>\n

So. In the “words to the wise” department: If you are going to do business in Floyd County, VA, here is what I would recommend:<\/p>\n

1. Talk to your network of friends to determine who is honest and reliable and who is not. Do not rely on newspaper advertisements or websites when selecting a contractor to do work for you.<\/p>\n

2. Be very, very careful to document everything you say to a person you are considering hiring. Do not, under any circumstances, say anything that could be interpreted as a verbal contract because under Virginia law, a verbal contract, in all but a very few circumstances, is as good as a written contract. Better yet, advise, from the beginning, in your conversations with anyone you are contemplating hiring, that you do not do verbal contracts.<\/p>\n

3. Be certain that you execute a properly prepared contract (take the contract to your lawyer if you are not sure) and demand proof of insurance before allowing any contractor to commence work.<\/p>\n

4. Be aware that there is something called “rough country justice” in Floyd County. As a defendant in a lawsuit, you may be completely innocent and still end up with the short end of the stick. I imagine that this is a particular hazard for anyone who does not have a network of friends in Floyd County or is “not from around here”, as I am.<\/p>\n

5. Know that under Virginia law, it is illegal for a contractor to perform work without a written contract. There are contractors in Floyd County that work without written contracts – avoid those contractors at all costs.<\/p>\n

If you don’t learn from my experiences, then shame on you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I own 11.5 acres of wooded land in Floyd County, Virginia. It is what is known as “land locked” – that is, it does not front on a public road. But I have a non-exclusive right-of-way across my neighbor’s land …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions\/860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}