Honoring the 3-day right to cancel

Roofing Business Talk
#1

According to Federal rule and all State statutes regarding the 3-day cooling-off period for home solicitation sales, homeowners who sign a contract during a roofer’s home solicitation sale may cancel that contract by midnight of the third business day (Sundays excluded) for any reason without suffering penalties of any kind.

Do any roofers here know of any instance where a roofer sued a homeowner after the homeowner made a timely, lawful, valid cancellation pursuant to the Federal and State cooling-off period laws?

I have skimmed hundreds of court cases where contractors sued homeowners for breach of contract, and the right-to-cancel was a factor. All these cases involved work being done, materials being ordered, installations begun or completed.

But I simply do not find any cases where it was simply a matter of the homeowner changing his mind within the three days before any work was done, materials ordered, etc., and letting the roofer know he is cancelling the contract, and then getting sued by the roofer.

#2

Not sure about your question. Why would someone sue a homeowner who cancels within their rights by law? Isn’t that the purpose of the 3 day right off rescission?

#3

Hello Authentic_Dad,

Yes, I am happy to answer your question.

I’m asking because it is happening to me. We are currently in a year-long litigation where a roofer is suing us for breach of contract claiming liquidated damages after we made a lawful, valid cancellation during the 3-day right to cancel period provided by Federal and State laws.

Our motion to dismiss based on the legal authority of those Federal and State provisions was immediately granted without prejudice in the lower court. IOW, the court recognized the absurdity and maliciousness of the roofer trying to extract from us “damages” of 20% of the total roofing job after we had made a lawful, valid cancellation.

This roofer then appealed to the next-higher court. The appeal was dismissed, not on the merits of the case, unfortunately, but on a jurisdictional issue of dismissals without prejudice are not appealable.

The roofer’s attorney has indicated that he is going to either re-file a complaint in the lower court, this time asking for damages against us for unjust enrichment, or he might appeal to the next highest level court; which in our state is one level below the state Supreme Court.

The reason I’m asking the question in my OP is because I have not been able to find a single instance of a roofer anywhere doing what this roofer is doing against us. Judges, especially appeal judges, like to be able to cite precedent cases in arriving at their decisions. I was hoping to find even one other case of a roofer violating the right-to-cancel law and getting slapped down hard by a judge.

What I think I’m looking at, however, is what’s called a “case of first impression,” where we basically blaze the trail for others to follow who are being sued for similar circumstances. But it would be easier if there was already a case existing.

You’ll be interested to know that this roofer has filed about three dozen lawsuits in the past 2 1/2 years against homeowners in our area, mostly senior citizens, average age of all of their victims is 75. They basically work an insurance contingency liquidated damages scam. Until they sued me they had won every single lawsuit.

Sorry about the long answer. I’ve been living with this for more than a year, and there is SO MUCH more!

#4

Take up a collection from the people he sued and make him disappear…

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#5

I’m more curious, what led to this signing of a contract? A door knock solicitation? A flyer, mail? Something the solicitor said, you liked enough to sign the contract, contingency. Just wondering what brought it to this point. Did his truck drip oil on the drive?

#6

Actually, it might be worth getting ahold of everyone he’s tagged and see if your lawyer can prove fraud. Class action him and his lawyer, get ahold of the bar association. I sued for fraud on a customer that had no intent to pay and got 3X damages.

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#7

It was pretty simple really. Two guys walking our neighborhood knocked on my door and told me I have storm damage; which I know I did because after every monsoon I would have to run around the neighborhood picking up my shingles, and then climb up on the roof and gunk them back into place. I’m 69 years old, and that was getting old. They said my insurance would cover it, and all I’d have to pay was my deductible. So, I signed.

When I told my wife she pitched a royal fit because she’s on Facebook and such, and I’m not. She said those guys have a really bad reputation and I should cancel. It didn’t take much research to discover that what she said was true. They have a very lucrative scam going against seniors in our area, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

I canceled quickly enough that they never even wrote up an estimate, and did nothing beyond talking for a few minutes to my insurance agent on the phone with me, and meeting with the insurance adjuster – all within the 3 business days allowed for a lawful cancellation.

I even offered to pay them $500 for their gas, time and trouble. But they refused, saying their contract says they can sue me for a 20 percent “cancellation fee.” Even though I Priority Mailed my cancellation letter, signature required, and it was signed by someone in their office they never acknowledged it in their lawsuit complaint, and a year later now have still not acknowledged my lawful cancellation.

#8

Has your Attorney considered filing a counter suit for a frivolous lawsuit? This sounds totally absurd but I’ve heard of some scumbags pulling this crap. Have you written the State’s Attorney General to file a complaint? I’m not even aware of Contractors successfully filing suit for cancellation for liquidated damages with a Contingency Contract involved and a flat percentage being involved. We use a Contract, not a Contingency Agreement, and there is a fee schedule the Customer signs that goes along with that and is a Cancellation for Convenience.

You should see if you can find the Senior Citizens that got ripped off and ask them to also file complaints with the Attorney General. You may also check with your Attorney and see if it makes sense to file a class action suit against this company on behalf of all those getting screwed. I’ll bet there is many times more people that have gotten taken by this company.

Good luck with your efforts, I am sorry you have to go through this.

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#9

Thank you, Authentic_Dad, I appreciate your helpful comments.

I know it sounds crazy, but this roofer has cleaned out more than a couple dozen senior citizens in our area using exactly this insurance contingency contract liquidated damages lawsuit scam, with the full cooperation of the Justice Court judges.

These judges have let this roofer get away with back-dating contracts, with forging signatures, with blatant insurance fraud, with outright lies, and with packing the court with numerous frivolous motions to make their victims so financially and physically weary they give up. He has sued a 100-year-old resident, and a 103-year-old resident.

Where we live, the lower courts are judged by justices of the peace who are elected and who are only required to be at least 18 years of age, a resident of Arizona, a qualified voter and have the ability to read and write English. They do not have to be an attorney, or even a college graduate.

As you can imagine, the level of legal knowledge and judicial discretion in the lower courts is atrocious, and the roofer and his attorney, who BTW is with one of the largest law firms in our state, fully take advantage of this unjust situation.

As to your suggestions: By law, I honestly can’t reveal what is being done in that regard. But, I’m guessing by now you must realize I’m not one to sit back while being attacked by bullies and cry, “Woe is me.”

#10

Could you please email me at mtcraney@gmail.com. I have some connections and ideas that may be able to help you. I’d like to be able to call you to discuss.

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