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March 17, 2010

Athens senior citizen wants justice

84 year-old woman is unhappy with contractor’s work, court’s decision

Rich Flowers The Athens Review

SALINA, Kan. — For the first time in her life, Clarene Lindley of Athens is protesting.

The 84 year-old woman  thinks she got a bad deal when she hired a construction company to do some remodeling on her LaCosta Street Home. On Monday and Tuesday, she sat on the concrete walkway outside the Henderson County Courthouse telling her story to anyone who would slow down for a moment.

You’ve probably heard something like it before. An elderly woman hires someone to do work on her home only to find the contractor has failed to do the job and has left a big dent in her bank account. In Lindley’s case, the cost was about $27,000.   

“That man did me in,” Lindley said. “Then I tried the justice system, and it let me down. I think I should have a day in court.”

One of Lindley’s complaints concerned a blue metal roof she ordered. She said the contractor went to a surplus store, and bought scraps for the roof, then painted the metal with blue latex paint.

“And the deck he built looked like a lean-to. He covered it with corrugated metal, and didn’t build any bannister or steps,” Lindley said.

Over the past three years, Lindley has filed a civil suit and a criminal complaint against the contractor. The civil suit resulted in binding arbitration, after which Lindley was awarded $6,700.

The criminal complaint for deceptive trade practices was dismissed March 12, in Judge Nancy Perryman’s  County Court at Law No. 2.

County Attorney Clint Davis agreed with the decision to dismiss the case which has been in the system since 2008.

“These things work better as a civil case than a criminal case,” Davis said. “Often people want to use the criminal system to get a civil result.”

Davis said it is difficult to prove criminal intent in many cases where a vendor is accused of cheating the customer.

“Generally, the kind of case that would warrant prosecution is when someone makes a deal to do work, takes payment up front and never comes back,” Davis said. “It’s not enough that they do sloppy work. It’s hard when they’re making an effort.”

Lindley is not so sure about the degree of effort put in by the contractor in her case.

“He claims I barred him from my property,” Lindley said. “The first time I talked to him was at arbitration.”

Lindley said the arbitration decision hasn’t resulted in her receiving any money.

“I didn’t get that money,” Lindley said. “He didn’t follow through with it.”

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