Update On My Criminal Mischief Charge

Heritage

Some of you may remember the circumstances that lead to me getting charged for mischief. For those that don't...here's how it went down:

Signed contract for 2500sq/ft Drywall with HO.
Tape
Paint
Bought material with my own money.

2 weeks in and we have several disputes. It goes from bad to worse.

One night while on site, me...HO and his friend begin arguing. I grab shovel, they run out...I take down all my work.

Police come...he wanted me charged with B&E, Assault with a weapon and damage to property. Police charge me with Mischief.

Fast forward to today...I had my judicial Pre-trial for the Mischief charge.

IT IS NOT ILLEGAL FOR ME TO TAKE DOWN MY WORK!!!.

Charge dismissed. Muchas Gracias...Adios.

So for those of you that were wondering about the legality of taking down your work, once it's installed, etc etc...Not in Ontario atleast.

Just as a note to Ontario Contractors...take pictures just to prove you only damaged what was yours and that you didn't just go bonkers on the whole house...We all hope it never has to come to this, but I'm pretty darn happy that the guy learned a valuable lesson. You guys don't even know the half of what a snake in the grass parasite this guy was.

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Jason Whipple

Thats great!! Not sure if it would fly here in the states, but good for you

I felt that way a few times but fortunately, kept my cool and got paid

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Jason E Whipple, General Manager
Historic House Restoration, Cincinnati, Ohio
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Heritage

Alright here's the thing...I'm not going to go into details because it would take too long and be confusing...I WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN PAID. He found a way to screw me and tell me to take a walk and I would have had no legal recourse to be able to recover any money...trust me it's a long story. Basically, he had set it up from the get-go to get me to do most of the work then say get out and thought I couldn't do anything about it.

TRUST ME, If I could have salavaged anything I would have.

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Toronto General Contractor-Renovation Blog-Contractor on Facebook-Renovation on twitter-Contractor Youtube

Putty Truck

Justice isn't always black and white. The judge may have known things about the ho that made your story credible. That has happened to me plenty--when the bad guys were totally known to the law--and the case swung to my side.

dkillianjr

Good for ya Heritage! I would have liked to do the same thing in that situation,heck I have had some customers I would have liked to beat with that shovel. Atleast for once the contractor won in the situation.


Dave