This foreign language offers unique benefits to:

1. College students who want an educational advantage when seeking employment, and;

2. American business looking for new, overseas markets.

Can you guess what it is?

It is French, the language of romance, culture, style, fine food and terrific business opportunities, as you’ll see, but first: If you were a Family Law judge, how would you rule in this case?

“Mr. Beaver, my wife has physical custody of our 16 year-old daughter Jeanine who has gift for learning languages. After two years of high school Spanish, she speaks it at a level of someone who has majored in the language at university, and is teaching herself French, using a college text and audio dialogues. She will graduate shortly after turning 17.

“Wanting to major in business and work internationally, Jeanine would like to study at a university that has a strong French program — and there is nothing like that nearby. But her mother admits to being terrified of Jeanine leaving home, refusing to allow her to attend school out of state. I am prepared to pay for her to study anywhere. If I asked a court to give me full custody for the educational benefit of our daughter, do you think I would have a chance? Thanks, Rob.”

A huge advantage
Taking French at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, spending a year studying in France and getting married to a lovely French women he met in New York, “changed my life in so many wonderful ways,” columnist and author John von Sothen told me recently.

For the past 15 years he’s lived in France, and with a marvelous sense of humor has distilled “the French experience” into what is both a touching and hysterically funny book, Monsieur Mediocre, subtitled, “One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French.”

His book is really a love-letter to France, and is on the New York Times list of summer reading suggestions. I asked him, “So, what’s in it for the American college student? Why should Americans study French?”

“There are old stereotypes about French, for example, it is considered as a romantic, classy language. There is still a feeling that if you know French, then you are an educated person, or that’s the image in any event. But today — especially today — in our global economy, French is tremendously important,” he strongly maintains.

“In France we see Africa in a far different way than it is shown on American evening news programs. In the States, the view of Africa is almost exclusively as a needy Third World continent, a place to give money to. But in France, it is seen as a trading partner, and a means to exert positive, global influence, raising the standard of living of its people. So the relationship that France has with Africa is very different.

“There are enormous business opportunities, especially in North Africa. Is there poverty? Yes, of course, but you do not see skyscrapers and factories when you watch CNN. You do see stories of refugees, disease, and misery, but not the economic powerhouse this region of the world has become.”

Language a game-changer
I asked the same questions about the value of French to Herman J. Cohen, who served as United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia in West Africa. He is the author of “The Mind of the African Strongman, and Intervening in Africa: Conflict Resolution in a Troubled Continent.”

I have had the pleasure of being on several live Voice of America French to Africa broadcasts with him.

“Africa — especially French-speaking Africa — is taking its place on the world’s economic stage. Knowing French — even some French — will be a great benefit to companies wanting to do business there,” he points out.

“When it is clear that you’ve taken the time to study another person’s language — especially if you speak it well — this raises your credibility. People want to do business with those who they feel comfortable around. Knowing French will open doors for American college students, and far-sighted American business.”

Change custody?
So, if Rob goes to court, will a judge give him custody so that Jeanine can attend a university that has a good French program? Is there a better way, a win-win for the family?

I ran these facts by family court judges who are friends of this column, and all agree that a mediator should be brought in before litigation. Yet, they were quick to stress that custody can be changed where the educational needs are strong enough.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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Most of us would rather not take the time to fire off a complaint letter after receiving poor service or purchasing a product which didn’t live up to expectations. We just spend our money elsewhere.

But as “Hector,” VP of Consumer Affairs for a national consumer products corporation tells You and the Law, “We look forward to getting these letters from our customers. “When we drop the ball, we need to be told. A well-written complaint letter is far more valuable than most people realize.”

So, just what does a “Well-written complaint letter” look like? We’ll tell you in a moment, but, first, let’s look at letters which are destined to yield no positive results.

“Are they nuts, or what?”

Daily, this column hears from readers after all their efforts to obtain help for a problem have been exhausted. By the time we are contacted, they are completely fed up.

 Occasionally we receive a novel – 50 pages, copies of receipts, emails, you name it, tracing everything done to resolve the issue and listing everyone who was also sent the same material. This usually includes their Congressional representative, U.S. Senator, federal and state consumer protection agencies, plus about 25 others.

“And this does produce results, but not what the sender had in mind,” Hector stated, “because there is no way anyone is going to spend hours making sense of it all, yet the last page always states, ‘But no one has replied! Can you help us?’

“Sadly, while there could very well be a legitimate complaint, the sender does succeed at something, as we think ‘Instead of a one page summary, we get this.’ And they think we are going to waste our time going through it. Are they nuts, or what?”

My office staff skims page after page to get an idea of what’s wrong, followed by a phone call to our reader. What almost always started out as a legitimate complaint has now become an obsession, likely due to the fact their letters were being ignored.

Our reader didn’t have the slightest idea about how to write a complaint letter that had a good chance of (1) being read, and (2) getting positive results.

There’s an art to writing that kind of a complaint letter, and we’ve got a few pointers which are proven to work, and will prevent the necessity of yanking out any more strands of hair.

Being polite builds your credibility

Remember when you had an argument with a close friend or family member over what in reality was nothing more than a slight annoyance, but insults flew? Did anger help resolve the problem or make it worse? Did one or both of you succeed in hurting the other’s feelings? If so, what did that accomplish? Did it harm your relationship?

So, rule number one in complaint writing is simple: Don’t be a jerk. Don’t swear. Above all, be polite. You must establish being reasonable and wanting a resolution of the problem with the least hassle.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Properly written, complaint letters are good for business appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

We can all feel it. Something’s not right with our country. But when did things start going wrong, and more importantly, where are we headed?

Spend some time with “The Decline of America” by Dr. David Schein, and like me, you’ll say, “Finally, someone who gets it!” Schein is an attorney and Associate Professor at the Cameron School of Business of the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He takes us through the past 100 years of leadership from those men who occupied the White House, or as the book’s subtitle announces, “100 years of leadership failures.”

“The Decline of America” presents an objective, non-partisan evaluation of US presidents during the past century, distills their successes, many glaring failures, and, as Schein is a university professor, a grade is assigned.

Two American Presidents stood out in my mind, the first George Bush and Clinton.

After the United States kicked Sadam Hussein out of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, in 1991 there was every opportunity to remove him from power, but Bush refused. Many credit that for the second Iraq invasion, and the nightmare we have faced ever since from the region. Schein’s grade for Bush? C-.

And who can forget Monica Lewinsky and scandal-prone Bill Clinton, earning a D-.

College campuses must safeguard free speech rights

As Schein is both an attorney and college professor, we asked if he has personally experienced threats or fears and interference with his own free speech rights when lecturing on college campuses, and unless remedied, what this means for our democracy.

“I am welcomed around the country to speak to Libertarian clubs and to conservative organizations, even though I do not give an especially high grade to Ronald Reagan. On the other hand, I have been warned that I may not get a warm reception on college campuses because many faculty and students do not like to see any criticism of people like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.

“Free Speech Zones, which have cropped up on many college campuses across America, are a perversion of the term free speech. This is the kind of stuff the Nazis and the USSR did to suppress opponents. They said, ‘Sure you can say anything you like so long as we approve of it.’

“This deprives students of the opportunity to hear multiple views so that they can exercise their own judgement. By definition, college students do not know it all and unless they allow themselves to be exposed to different viewpoints, will never develop critical thinking skills,” he strongly maintains.

“It is a sad situation that threatens our democratic principles. When highly paid attorneys do the bidding of a college administration and fight to justify these clearly unconstitutional free speech zones, it is waste of money and an embarrassment to the legal profession.”

Merger mania threatens competition

Almost 20 years ago, two giant oil companies – Exxon and Mobil – were allowed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to merge. This, as Schein documents, began what has been referred to as “merger mania.”

“By allowing that merger, other large companies began to merge, and the result is a real threat to what makes American business so great, and that is competition. As an example of mergers which the DOJ has prevented, just look at the number of cell phone companies we have, which has helped the consumer,” he underscores.

Schein asks this question: “We know that consumers benefit from competition among the cell phone companies. How much better would it have been if Exxon and Mobil were not allowed to merge? Fewer competitors make it harder to have competition for goods and services. And, we should not forget that within one year of that merger, the combined oil company shed 14,000 jobs.”

At the present time, CVS is trying to buy Aetna Health Insurance.

“I am very concerned about this merger. American health care needs more, not less, competition. We should not forget that Aetna tried to buy rival health insurer Humana not that long ago. The DOJ sued to block the deal, saying it was anti-competitive and would lead to unfair price increases.”

Department of justice and FBI have become political

Schein echoes the feelings of many people who are “thoroughly disgusted with how politics entered the DOJ in the Obama era with Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Both were extremely political. Just as the FBI is under assault now for being political, the DOJ has hurt its reputation for the same reason.”

Dr. Schein concluded our interview with food for thought:

“If we as Americans cannot count on anything coming out of Washington to be non-partisan and to be done in our singular best interest, we have some real problems.”

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Is America on the decline? appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

For anyone in the dating scene–high school, college, divorced or who has lost a spouse, please cast your vote for either (A) or (B):

(A) I want to be romantically involved with someone kind, caring, honest, pays their part of the restaurant tab, does not constantly blame or put me down, has a good relationship with friends and their own family, OR:

(B) A user, a con, twists the truth, a manipulator needing constant praise, jealous of me and my accomplishments, treats others as all good or all bad, emotional, aggressive, mistrustful, controlling, nasty to family members, creates conflict and steals from me my sense of who I am.

All those who chose (A) please raise your hands. Good. Now, those who selected (B) please step outside, and you’ll see two gentlemen in white coats who have a nice jacket (with no sleeves) for you to wear on your trip to Happy Acres Mental Hospital for People Who Keep on Finding Crazies to Date.

High conflict people have the power to do us real harm

How many times have you heard a friend say, “It seems that I am always picking the wrong kind of person to date?” Maybe you’ve even said this yourself, after coming out of a true nightmarish relationship. But what if you never allowed that first or second date to go any further?

Why is it that our internal radar – our gut feelings – which at some point say, ‘Trouble! Stay away!’ but we don’t listen? What explains this phenomenon, and is there a way to recognize those people who have the power to do us real harm emotionally and even physically?

Indeed, there is, and if ever there was a book that should be required reading at every high school, college, and given to people just divorced, who have lost a spouse, or come from a family where conflict was a daily occurrence, then “Dating Radar – Why Your Brain says Yes to ‘The One’ Who Will Make Your Life Hell,” is it.

The authors of “Dating Radar” have years of experience dealing with the damage caused by what they refer to as High Conflict People (HCP.)
Based in San Diego, they are family law attorney Bill Eddy and Megan Hunter, who spent years a family law specialist with the Administrative Office of the Arizona Supreme Court.

First few dates tell all if you are observant

So, how do you know if the person you are dating is an HCP, someone who goes from nice to nasty, and in a truly evil manner? What behaviors reveal that you are dating someone who, as Hunter puts it, “Follows the same script their entire life, first charming their victim and then creating more misery than they ever could dream possible.”

Eddy describes an HCP, emphasizing, “This is not a diagnosis. It’s a description of high-conflict patterns of behavior, and there is considerable overlap with people who have true mental health diagnoses, including narcissists, sociopaths, borderline personality, histrionic behavior and paranoia. But you can be an HCP without having true mental illness.

“These people are rigid, uncompromising, repeat failed strategies, refuse to accept a loss, and negative emotions control their thinking. They cannot examine their own behavior, are unable to empathize with others and constantly blame everyone while refusing to accept any responsibility for problems which they often have caused.”

That description of a High Conflict Person should cause anyone who gets involved with one to ask themselves “Why am I with this head case?” But wait. It gets worse.

Hunter says that, “About 10 percent of the U.S. population has a high-conflict personality, and the chances are good, Dennis, that some of your readers will see they are in or have had a relationship with an HCP.” She lists characteristics an HCP reveals as early as the first date, pointing out they are:

(1) Overly charming, try to sell themselves, put on an amazing performance,
attempt to get too close, too soon. If you describe the person to others as
“Extremely charming,” this is a huge red flag to explore!

(2) Are often described as “Too-good-to-be-true.”

(3) Want to get sexual or sensual very quickly.

(4) Are overly compatible, like everything you like and go out of their way to please you. Victims state, “I never met someone who had all the same interests I had and did everything she could to please me! At first it was fabulous, and then the real person showed her face and it was pure evil!”

(5) Talk or reveal too much about themselves.

If any of this sounds familiar, to discover how to protect yourself or get away from an HCP, then “Dating Radar” will be the most valuable book you ever read.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Are you dating a crazy? appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post How covering for a boss can land you in jail appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

“I am writing behalf of myself and co-workers at a restaurant and night-club in a California Central Valley town where your column is widely read.

“We are constantly exposed to insanely loud music, the idea of our new manager, wanting ‘to have a livelier atmosphere.’ It is so ‘lively’ that several of us are experiencing ringing in our ears, sometimes after just an hour or two on the job.

“Because there is no carpeting or other acoustic treatment, often it is so noisy that employees have to shout at each other in order to be heard. It feels like your head is in a metal trash can and someone is banging on it!

“We have all embarrassingly messed up beverage and food orders because it was not possible to understand the customer.

“Our requests to lower the volume and have sound-dampening material installed were refused, the manager curtly telling us: “Bars are noisy and customers want a loud environment. If you don’t like it, then find a job elsewhere. But don’t worry, it isn’t so loud as to harm your hearing. You’ll get used to it.”

“Is he right? We would all appreciate your comments and some direction. Thanks, Kim.”

Need to shout? Your hearing is at risk

Does Kim and her co-workers have anything to worry about, or if unhappy, should they just find a job elsewhere? What are the indications that occupational noise is loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage? Are there legal protections for workers in noisy environments?

For answers, You and the Law spoke with one of the nation’s foremost experts on hearing conservation, Indianapolis-based Elliott Berger, division scientist for the 3M Personal Safety Division. For over 35 years, Berger has studied hearing protection and authored numerous articles and textbook chapters.

“An employee in this situation is describing occupational exposure to what we refer to as potentially hazardous levels of noise which can cause permanent hearing loss,” Berger stated, adding, “and your reader’s comments highlight two often found consequences of exposure to dangerous levels of noise which over-stress nerve cells in the inner ear.

• Shouting in order to be heard at arm’s length, and;
• Ringing in the ears after you leave the noise and are in quiet surroundings.

“Potentially hazardous noise means that you have been exposed to a sound level of 85 decibels or more for at least 8 hours on a consistent basis. When this occurs, it may result in permanent hearing loss for a portion of the population unless hearing protection devices are worn,” he stressed.

“Examples of 85 decibels would include a gas lawn mower, a noisy vacuum cleaner and many hair dryers.”

Risks not well known but Disney protects its employees

“The sad occupational reality is a failure to understand the risks or know what is needed to safeguard hearing. One admirable employer is the Disney Corporation, as its theme parks provide hearing protection to employees in bar and music entertainment areas,” Berger points out.

Even the CDC–Centers for Disease Control–are paying attention to what they call Music Induced Hearing Loss, and have stated that everyone who works at a night club is at risk–bartenders, security, wait staff–not just the DJ. In a 2013 study, they found noise levels to exceed 95 decibels, sometimes reaching 108 decibels, and at these levels, hearing protection is mandatory under federal law.

When government agencies charged with enforcing the law sit on their hands, hearing-aid companies are thrilled. In our opinion, the California Department of Industrial Relations (CalOsha) is completely deaf when it comes to noise issues concerning bars and nightclubs.

Information they provided You and the Law revealed no reported action taken against a single bar or nightclub for excessive noise in the past several years.

Dangerous levels of noise exposure more common today

“The opportunity for not just employees–but members of the general public–to be exposed to potentially dangerous high sound levels is far more common now than ever before,” Berger points out, citing the “readily available powerful amplification equipment used today at rock concerts, recreational activities — even weddings — creates loud sounds with a greater potential to damage hearing,” he stated, and then asked what these four things have in common:

• A monster truck rally;
• A basketball game in an arena with 18,000 screaming fans;
• Using a chainsaw;
• A rock concert.

“They all generate sound levels above 95, a chainsaw and rock concert coming in at 105 decibels, and some basketball game in enclosed arenas have been measured at well over 115 decibels.”

Protect yourself before trouble starts

For anyone about to begin a job in a noisy environment, or who has ever worked in one, then next week’s story will be of special interest as we look at noise-related workers compensation claims and hearing loss prevention.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Loud noise is dangerous for employees appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

“Dennis, spend a day in the shoes of a high school human relations manager and you’ll be amazed at the immaturity and outright deception shown, not by students, but the teachers. Given the bickering, pettiness, unbelievable lack of common sense and at times harassing behavior found in so many high schools, you have to wonder what the kids are learning.”

“But it’s not just the teachers who lack common sense, as far too often clueless HR people become unwitting co-conspirators of a manipulative, dishonest employee with an agenda and a plan to make a colleague’s life miserable.”

Those were comments from the human resources manager at a California high school district who You and the Law consulted for this story with the understanding that neither his location nor name would be revealed.

I’ll have one lamb and a shepherd boy, rare, please.”

As we all remember, “The boy who cried wolf” is one of Aesop’s Fables standing for the proposition that even when liars tell the truth, they are not believed.

In the fable, a shepherd boy tricks villagers into thinking that a wolf is attacking his flock by yelling Wolf! Wolf! Of course, all run to help, finding no wolf, only a boy laughing at the sight of everyone racing to his aid.

However, after repeating the same not-so-practical joke one time too many, when a real wolf appears, his screams are ignored, the boy and a sheep becoming dinner for the wolf.

He is obsessed with you

“Like the fable, common sense and experience, should lead management to conclude that repeated, unproven complaints from one employee about another means that the person doing the complaining is the problem.

“But when you keep on investigating a person shown to have done nothing wrong, then you are just begging to be sued,” he stressed.

In December of 2014, You and the Law observed — dumbfounded — as HR staff from a Southern California high school district grabbed a shovel and began digging a hole for itself by tossing common sense out the window in a matter which began in late 2011 and could have been titled: You’ll Be Sorry, signed Kerry.

His repeated advances ignored by “William,” between from 2011 to 2013, “Kerry” filed three virtually identical claims of “harassment,” all of which were found “completely unsubstantiated” after HR investigated.

After being warned by his principal, “Kerry has an obsession with you,” William asked for and received a transfer to a different high school, but that did not prevent a fourth complaint. Instead of refusing to put an innocent teacher through more grief, HR, once again, began an investigation.

How much trouble can the employer get into?

“An employer should never let itself become the alter ego of an employee who has an issue with a co-worker. This HR department doesn’t get the message: they hear Wolf and keep on responding,” commented Bakersfield Labor Law attorney Jay Rosenlieb.

“Employers have a duty to investigate credible complaints. If they fail, this becomes a violation of their obligations to their employees. However, by continuing to investigate claims that clearly have no basis, then they have liability to innocent employees.

“Here, the credibility of the school’s HR department is called into question. By continuing to accept and investigate these complaints, when they have reason to doubt their validity, they fail to ask the question “Who is the bad guy?”

“Certainly after the second unsubstantiated claim, the district is looking more and more like a dunce, if not a co-conspirator,” Rosenlieb points out.

“The more they investigate and find nothing, the innocent teacher now acquires the basis to file a workers compensation stress claim. Obviously, anyone going through what he did will suffer greatly,” he underscores.

“The subject of the investigation has already had his career path unnecessarily altered by transferring to another school.”

Advice to employers

“When investigating complaint by one employee against another, employers have a legal duty to ask, ‘Do they have an ax to grind?’ This is basic to the investigative process.

“Failing that, the employer runs the risk of not conducting a full and complete inquiry and becoming a tool in a private dispute.

“Employers must always be alert to credibility issues and ulterior motives when accepting complaints. To do otherwise will expose the employer to liability and could harm an otherwise upstanding and productive employee,” Rosenlieb concluded.

To that, we add the following food for thought:

The most valuable asset of any employer are its people: strong, engaged, productive — who want to be there.

Give them a reason to doubt your credibility, and forever you’ll be hiring new employees at great cost.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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Have you been thinking about buying a pair of walkie talkies, perhaps for use while camping, car-to-car communications or keeping in touch with your kids while they’re out bicycling in the neighborhood?

Consumer two-way radios are sold just about everywhere — Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, the list goes on — and for well under $100, the technology crammed into them is truly unbelievable.

And there’s much more that’s unbelievable.

A lot people who purchased these radios have good reason to believe that someone is just begging to be sued for false advertising. That “someone” includes just about every manufacturer of these radios, and retailers who know full well that they have put on their floor products which, when used as advertised, don’t deliver.

We are talking about grossly exaggerated range claims — the distance stated or implied — that you can reasonably expect to communicate. And when some of these radios claim, on their package, “perfect for emergency preparedness,” knowing just how short a distance the radio’s range is likely to be, an Academy Award for cynicism is merited.

So, before opening your wallet, when you are in the store, grab your cellphone, go into any search engine and type the name and model of the radio you’re looking at and “walkie talkie exaggerated range claims,” “false advertising,” “fraud,” “consumer fraud” or other variations.

For technical help with our story, we would like to thank Ian Poole, editor of Radio-Electronics.com, who spoke to us from his office in Surrey, England, and from Ben Burns, CEO of Discount Two Way Radio (www.discounttwo-wayradio.com) in Harbor City, who specializes in radios for police, fire and commercial applications.

‘Two blocks — half a mile at most — around the corner, forget it!’

“I often hear from people who have every right to feel a victim of deceptive advertising, when they only got about two blocks, a half a mile at most, and if one of them walked around the corner, forget it!” Burns stated.

“Seeing ‘18-mile range’ in big red letters, or 24, 35 and one even claims 50 miles, the average consumer reasonably expects to be able to communicate over that stated distance, or something fairly close to what the box shows. I would compare this with auto mileage per gallon statements. We don’t expect to get precisely what the manufacturer claims, but if we’re close, that’s OK.

“Could you imagine if some impressive MPG claim was the result of coasting downhill in neutral? Of course not, as cars aren’t tested that way. But radio manufacturers obtain their amazing range figures under conditions which do not reflect the way these radios are actually used in the real world, using true but misleading numbers to sell the product.

“No kidding, they have someone standing on top of a mountain, or on the roof of a tall building and the other person miles away, with no structures or any obstructions in between. They will typically use the term ‘line of sight,’ and most people have no idea what that means,” Burns observes, adding, “and then the box that the radios come in often shows them in the forest, or for emergency communications — all the uses which you cannot possibly rely on them to deliver.”

Poole explains the significance of the term “line of sight”:

“These are line-of-sight radios, so as long as you can see the other person — no obstructions or structures in between which interfere with their low power transmissions — you can generally communicate over long distances with good equipment, especially if your radios have good antennas.

“But even if you are both standing in the middle of the same street as these radios are generally 1/2 up to 1 1/2 watts and use very small antennas, you’re lucky with half a mile. Radio waves don’t like trees, foliage, buildings, cars, concrete, metal, all the things you find in a city, and that’s why a couple of blocks is all that you can generally expect to get under those conditions,” he points out.

“Just think, if these consumer two-way radios worked as they claim on the box, everyone would have one and there would be no need to have a cellphone! Or the hundreds of thousands of dollars police and fire departments could save by simply handing out $35 radios to their staff?” Burns commented with just the right amount of sarcasm in his voice.

The distance claims are a perfect example of “What the big print gives, the small print takes away,” as Kingsburg reader “Sammy” would discover one Saturday afternoon after “munching my way through two of my favorite stores, Costco and Sam’s Club.”

Next time: his story and our test results.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Walkie talkies with a 35-mile range? appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

If you are about to hire a contractor, then today’s story should be of special interest, and we are confident it will minimize the chances of banging your head against a wall while screaming, “Why did we hire this guy?”

Helen, who reads You and the Law in The Selma Enterprise, sent us this question:

“We are going to remodel our kitchen, but I am worried about the contractor my husband wants to use. He’s an acquaintance from church who I know is in serious financial trouble. My husband feels that the poor guy needs the work and wants to help.

“His proposal is way below any of the others we obtained and, I admit, that is attractive. Still I am concerned. We are long-time readers and trust your advice.”

‘They are about to make two of the three worst mistakes possible’

We ran Helen’s question by Bakersfield attorney Tim Scanlon, who specializes in construction and real estate matters. Shaking his head, Scanlon immediately commented:

“Your readers could easily make two of the three most common mistakes possible in selecting a contractor.”

• Hiring someone based on a relationship and not on their skills.

• Allowing price alone to become the most important factor. The least expensive are typically contractors who have no license, no insurance, no bond and are frequently in financial trouble.

• Hiring someone off of a magazine ad where they have no actual office or physical address.

“Any of these three factors are a huge red flag which often leads to the worst nightmare you could ever imagine. You always need to check out a contractor and there are extremely simple ways of doing this.”

How to verify a contractor’s license and history

“A kitchen remodel easily puts thousands of dollars at risk. Therefore, discover if this person has an active license — the correct license — and the easiest way is by calling the Contractor’s State License Board directly or by going to their website — www.cslb.ca.gov.

“Look at Instant License Check, by business name or the contractor’s individual name. It is not only important to have an active license, but its history is critical to know as well. Has it been suspended at any point in time since it was issued? If so, why?

“But having a license isn’t enough. As there are close to 50 different types of licenses, is it the appropriate license for this job?  Projects valued at $500 or more require the contractor to be licensed. If the project involves two or more trades (such as drywall and granite), a Class B General Contractor’s license is required. For simpler projects only involving a single trade (such as granite only), the contractor must hold a specialty license in that trade.

“What about the history of this license? It can show as active, but could have been suspended and reinstated over time. So an active, current license today is only part of the story.

“If you find that a license has been suspended several times in the past few years, it’s a possible sign the contractor has been sued repeatedly and not paid outstanding judgments, or that the contractor has let important items such as insurance or bonds lapse.

“Next, look at the bond history. Contractors are required to have a bond, which can be cancelled for nonpayment or because the contractor failed to pay a judgment. Has a bond been canceled due to an outstanding judgment? Look for regular renewals without interruption, as it is a good sign of a responsible contractor.

“All contractors are going to make mistakes. Those who don’t get them resolved wind up in trouble with their customers and the Contractors State License Board. You want someone who, if a mistake is made, will fix it. Just stay away from any contractor who has been in trouble numerous with the license board.”

Only had a license for a brief time? In court often?  

“Be extra-careful of hiring a contractor only licensed for a brief time,” warns Scanlon. “Merely having a license does not mean that you know how to run a business, or how to truly be a contractor, keeping your customers satisfied.”

“Finally,” Scanlon recommends, “Go on your county’s Superior Court website, search the business and individual name of the contractor that you intend to use, and see if they are often a plaintiff or defendant. If you see them listed too often, this is a huge red flag — stay away! And, while you’re at it, look at the criminal case listings as well.”

Do you know how much of a deposit a contractor may legally ask? We’ll tell you next time as well as how to not shoot yourself in the foot when working with a contractor.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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