It is well established in case law that the failure to maintain proper licensure as a contractor can result in draconian consequences. No matter how one may argue that the intent of the Contractor State Licensing Law is met, there are innumerable pitfalls. Examples of issues that turn on factual issues are plentiful and include, but are not limited to, the following: intercompany assignments of a contract; whether a project is public works where the types of licenses that must be held to perform the work have to be followed, which is different from private works; the scope of a specialty license; whether the Responsible Managing Employee or Responsible Managing Officer is a sham allowing a claimant to go behind the license; or whether the license should be retroactively suspended due to lack of worker’s compensation coverage. Such situations may constitute pitfalls for the unwary. If the licensing law is violated a general contractor may lose its right to seek compensation for work performed or may be forced to disgorge all the money its been paid.
However, what happens if the general contractor is properly licensed but it retains unlicensed contractors? In the recent case of Kim v. TWA Construction the Plaintiff, Kim, hired the defendant to build a home and a bridge on their property. A small portion of the project involved the removal of a large eucalyptus tree. Although TWA was properly licensed to enter into the contract, it retained an unlicensed individual, Hoffman,...
US President Donald Trump made a series of inaccurate or exaggerated claims during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, although he largely stuck to a prepared script. Fro...