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Originally Posted by 784caroline
Question: Does the expert witness who is a licensed tradesman have to be licensed in the state of FLorida. I know we are talking mostly ethical issues here but the argument would be everything from Codes, standards of practice, rates could or would all be different from up north compared to Florida. The Defense would try everythiging its power to get the "expert" testimony or statement made non-admissible.
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The state of Florida requires that the owner of a plumbing business must have a license, his employees do not, but the license holder is responsible for any work the employee does. The only code requirement for this water heater repair job is what I said above. No permit or inspection is required for a repair. The standards of practice for this repair would be the same anywhere in the country, all standard residential hot water heaters are built the same way and have the same working parts that are interchangeable, and this makes it easy for someone to keep the parts stocked on the trucks. The cost of living in New Jersey is much higher than most places in the country, of course our pricing will not be the same, but much higher than what you find in Florida. I have been in court several times and never had a problem proving to the defense that I was an expert in the field of plumbing.
I`m just trying to help someone that I feel was grossly overcharged and I take my hat off to anyone willing to do something about it, regardless of the cost, too many times people and companies just give up because of the cost, leaving the `bad guy` to continue to do what he does. I don`t think Joe cares about the money as much as he does about the fact of someone getting away with this. I will do anything to help Joe or anyone else in the Villages with problems like this. I know the court system is different than Jersey, in Jersey this guy would be facing criminal court, not small claims court.