Background

I was retained by a married couple who were being sued for the amount of $21,000.00 by a renovator that had done renovation work for them in their home. My clients had prepared their defence themselves which was insufficient to have successfully defended against the action. Accordingly, I prepared and filed an ‘Amended Defence’. I also issued a Plaintiff’s Claim for contribution and indemnity against my clients’ mortgage broker for reasons that are complex and beyond the scope of this article, but which was appropriate to do in the circumstances.

Resolution

I was able to settle the matter for $4,000.00 which was $17,000.00 less that the amount of the lawsuit. My clients paid only $2,000.00 and the mortgage broker contributed to the settlement by paying $2,000.00. This ended up being an excellent settlement without the matter having had to go to a trial.

Takeaways

There are two takeaways from this matter:

  1. Always contact references to check out your renovator which will help to ensure that you will be getting quality work done.
  2. If the work is not done properly, advise your renovator of the problems in writing and take pictures so that if you are sued, or if you have to sue your renovator, you will have all of the problems and issues documented and photographed.