I am considering taking a plumber that worked on our house to court and I am not sure if it is worth it or not. I would love some advice on whether I have a case or not and what the likelihood of my being reimbursed might be.

Here is the case.
1. hired a plumber to install a piping for a shower unit on my cast iron tub.
2. I bought the shower unit complete with shut off valves.
3. the plumber agreed to install the unit.
4. When all was said and done the plumber had broken a pipe (which he fixed at no extra charge), both valves I had bought ended up leaking (one immediately, and one 4 days later) which he claims was from cheap faulty valves and the second valve breaking was responsible for soaking through my 2nd floor onto my mac g4 laptop and destroying it.
5. He never offered to run this through his insurance and when I confronted him on it he replied that
a. it wasn't his fault
b. he normally never puts in parts that a customer buys and therefore a faulty valve is my problem not his, if he would have supplied the valves he would accept responsibility
c. his insurance won't cover it because I bought the valves and he recommended that I go to my insurance and say I installed I and this is what happened (pretty sure that's insurance fraud, not going to do that)

So... here is my evidence.
1. receipt of payment ( he did come back and fix the problem, with new valves I bought)
2. the old valves (which I want to get tested by another plumber to make sure they are not faulty)
3. video of water leaking from my ceiling onto my computer.


Do I have a case or is this a case of he said she said?

Hello jg:

Looks to me like that.

However, it's not 50/50 because you'll have the burden of proving your case before he has to even open his mouth. That makes it more like 40/60. But the fees for filing a small claims case are pretty small (like $50), so I'd take that gamble. Of course, it depends on how much you'll be suing for.

Which brings me to your damages. Hire another plumber to FIX what he broke and bring THAT invoice to court. Take pictures, and get a statement from the new plumber.

IF you do that, it's not he said/she said anymore. YOU have a witness. Now it's 90/10 in your favor.

excon

Well, unfortunately he has already fixed the problem and it works now. He used the same kind of valves as the first time. I called the manufacturer and I have emails (left that out) from them saying that it is impossible that both valves are faulty ( don't know how much that matters). The suit is for 1500, we have a deductible on our home owners insurance of 1k which sucks.

Hello again, jg:

K. I'm back to 40/60. Plus your suit would only be for $500 cause that's all YOU'RE out. If the insurance company wants to sue him, that's on them.

And, I don't know if you're even out THAT amount. You can't get the plumbing work for free! I don't know if the $1,500 you're talking about includes the cost of the plumbing or just the damages to your home.

excon

Well, maybe I haven't come up with a good enough damage estimate then.

The 1500 is for my cpu, a router that was damaged and the cost of recovering data, that's it. I could throw in 3-400 for repairing the ceiling.

One other point to consider. Even if you do win,you will still have to collect. This is the Catch-22 of suing people for damages. You can win and obtain a judgement, but that doesn't mean the defendant is just going to whip out their checkbook and write you a check. You may have tofind his bank account and attach it or more to collect.

I'm not sure that you could claim the laptop. My first thought as a judge would be "why did you leave it under a leak?" Especially since you knew that the first valve leaked earlier. And, even if you can, you will get depreciated value for it, not replacement, and everyone knows that computers depreciate fast! Now, the cost of fixing the ceiling is directly related to the leak, and should be included in the case.

It is unfortunate that the problem has been fixed, because it would be good to see if an independent plumber agreed that the problem was the valve. If it was, you are dead in the water in this case, since he put in what you gave him. Unless it was obviously defective, in which case he should have notified you of the issue before using it.