Iowa Lawyer & Attorney : Sullivan & Ward Law Firm : Iowa Law Blog

The Iowa Court of Appeals recently had before it a sad (sad for the child that was injured and sad for the dog) and somewhat surprising dog-bite case in which they decided that a fact question was created, necessitating further review, when a landlord had knowledge that a dog had a propensity towards violence and yet that landlord allowed the dog to remain on the property.

The abbreviated facts are as follows:  Landlord's son, who was also a tenant, had a German Shepard as a pet.  German Shepard was kept outside, possible neglect occurring (Disclosure Alert: dog owner writing this blog post). German Shepard attacks neighbor.  Landlord/father is aware that tenant/son's dog attacked neighbor.  Steps are taken to insure that dog does not get loose again.  Tenant/Son sent jail for unrelated matter.  Dog left in fenced in yard (testimony showed neglect).  Landlord/father insists that dog be removed.  Son/ex-tenant threatens suicide, father/ex-landlord relents.  Dog eventually escapes and severely injures neighbor boy.  Court of Appeals finds, among other things, that a fact issue requiring further review had been created as to whether the landlord was negligent in allowing a dangerous dog to remain in his property.

The lesson:  If you are going to allow your tenants to have pets you should have your tenants provide you with information regarding the animals demeanor and any past displays of abnormal aggression.  Also, you should put a provision in your leases that would allow you to terminate the lease should you become aware of an animals aggression and after such aggression the tenant refuses to find alternate accommodations for pet. 

Photo by flickr

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Four Legacies Mortgage - Chief Inspiration Officer - Brent Rauch recently put together an informative article addressing the phenomenon of accidental landlords  if you review his article pay special attention to the section titled: Tenents of Tenants. 

It has been my experience that the wrong tenant can make being a landlord a nightmare (side note: the 1990 movie Pacific Heights with Michael Keaton, Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine comes to mind).  Making a poor choice when deciding on a tenant can turn the once profitable rental property into a money-pit.  The inconsiderate tenant will eat into your profits both though extra damage to the realty and through the non-payment of rent.

Bottom line for success as a one or two unit landlord:  First, choose a property that will increase in value at least as much as your market average. Second, just as Brent suggests, do your due diligence when selecting a tenant to rent your property and with a little luck you just may find that being a landlord can be both enjoyable and profitable.

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In Polk County Iowa all litigants in family court, which include divorcing couples and couples in the middle of paternity, custody and support cases, must submit to mediation (unless they are able to resolve their case prior to the mediation deadline). In outlying counties either party may request mediation. Luckily, in Iowa, there are many excellent and experienced family law mediators.

In divorce and other family law mediations, a neutral facilitator will help you and your spouse (significant other) discuss needs and wants. The goal is to reach a mutually acceptable agreement without going to trial. The process is confidential. The majority of time the mediator is an attorney; however, effective mediators have other diverse backgrounds as well.

I am a huge advocate of mediation for the following reasons: Mediation is usually less expensive than a trial, preferred by judges, more satisfactory to the parties and fosters higher compliance. Most importantly, it allows both parties to retain control over case outcome.

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The Question of the Week posted this week got me thinking about the classification of temporary employees. Temporary workers are workers that are employed by a staffing agency which supplies workers to the client company. Temporary workers report to the client, but receive pay and benefits from the staffing agency. Temporary workers, therefore, are considered to be the employee of the staffing agency rather than the client company.

The risk of having a temp become an employee of the client company arises when the client company retains a certain amount of control over the temp. If that happens, the client company may face liability for a wide variety of employment related issues including discrimination and wage and hour violations.

How can the client company reduce the risk of having a temp become classified as an employee? The suggestions listed below are taken from “Get Smart When Using Temporary Employees” and a 2004 Iowa case, Willms v. Associated Materials Inc.

• Allow the staffing agency to communicate the rate of pay and hours to the temp;
• Require the staffing agency to perform drug testing or background checks;
• Request the staffing agency perform periodic visits to the job site;
• Differentiate the temp uniforms, badges, parking spaces, break rooms, etc. from the permanent employees’;
• Allow the staffing agency to make hiring and firing decisions as well as take disciplinary action;
• Limit the time period a temp works at the site;
• Refer to the temp as a worker who is assigned rather than an employee who is hired;
• Always have your attorney review your agreement with the agency.

In short, treat temporary employees different than your permanent employees. A client company may not be able to completely eliminate the risks of having temporary workers classified as employees, but by using some of the suggestions above the risk will be reduced.

Photo on flickr by DCvision2006

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Given the current real estate market with its increasing foreclosure rate and ensuing credit crunch, individuals and families are choosing to rent rather than buy.  If you have the financial ability and the interest in owning rental property then this could be an intriguing possibility.  However, there is more to owning rental property than simply finding a property and suitable tenants.  If you own a rental unit in central Iowa, before you can move any tenants into your property you must first obtain a rental certificate, according to the Iowa Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and the City of Des Moines Municipal Code. 

If in your haste you neglect to obtain a rental certificate it could come back to haunt you should you find yourself in the unenviable position of having a tenant whom neither pays nor exits the premises on their own volition.  Under Iowa Law, without a valid rental certificate the tenant is considered a tenant at will and the landlord must give thirty days notice prior to eviction, on top of that the past due rent will not be recoverable either.  Bottom line, if you are a current landlord or a prospective landlord, be sure that you have a  rental certificate for each unit before renting.

Photo on Flickr by The Rocketeer

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Julie Elgar of That’s What She Said uses the employees of The Office to illustrate the pervasiveness of internet use in the workplace. Elgar recognizes that unmonitored internet usage can lead to a decline of productivity and even worse harassment among employees. What should employers do? As Elgar says it’s important to develop a monitoring system and inform the employees that the system is in place.   Communicating the policy to the employees reduces their exepctation of privacy in the workplace.  Inform employees of any disciplinary policy you may have regarding violations of the intenet usage policy.

Photo on flickr by *diggin an old dude*

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I can't speak for all businesses, but from my perspective most businesses have a signed agreement before they provide services for either an individual or a business. However, invariably it is those transactions in which the agreement was never actually signed that cause the most problems for the business owner.  

The typical fact pattern goes something like this:   an individual wants some work done to his home, he approaches an electrical contractor for a bid,  the contractor gives the homeowner a bid, the homeowner says, "yeah, that is fine but I need the work done right away because of (insert any emergency situation here)."  

Contractor, says,  "great, it just so happens that I have some time available within your time frame, if you will just sign this agreement I will go ahead and order the material that I will need for the job."    

Homeowner, says "Yeah, I will sign it, I just can't do it today because (insert any half-baked excuse you can imagine). 

That should be definite red-flag to the contractor, or to any other business owner for that matter; however, due to a downturn in the construction industry  and perhaps being a little strapped for cash and against the contractors better judgment he reluctantly takes the homeowner at his word and begins the project. 

At the end of the day the contractor incurred the expense of the project and now the homeowner is unwilling to pay and the contractor is placed in the unenviable position of having to decide to cut his losses and move on or he can go after the homeowner for his damages, which will require a further outlay of cash and time.

The point of this post is this,  if you are going to provide a service and would like to give yourself the best opportunity to be paid for that service, then you must get the agreement in writing.  I know that this is not earth shattering information, but it is worth repeating as everyone knows that they need to put an agreement in writing, yet from time to time exceptions are made and the exception leads to a big headache. 

The bottom line is this:  If you want to increase you ability to get fully paid for every service you provide and therefore increase your bottom line then you must not perform any work before you receive a signed writing spelling out the extent of the agreement. 

If for some unknown reason you find yourself proceeding without an agreement, then my advice to you would be to begin rubbing your rabbit's foot or looking for that four leaf clover because it will likely take all of the luck in the world for you to get paid in full and on time.  If someone does not want to put it in writing then they certainly do not want to pay for it. 

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In an ideal world, when a business provides a service, the person or entity benefiting from the service promptly pays the provider for that service (assuming of course, that the service was performed as the service recipient expected).  As anyone who has been in business for longer than a week can tell you, when it comes to customers paying for the services that they receive, the world is not perfect. 

Because not all customers pay as agreed, it is imperative that before performing any work the service provider must first get a service agreement signed by the service recipient.   I know that this seems obvious and I would guess that the majority of businesses do get the bulk of their agreements in writing, yet it is always the small exceptions that end up causing business owners the biggest problems. 

Now, I know that there is portion of small business owners reading this that are likely saying to themselves:  "we do business on a handshake and a person's word is just as good as any contract," and  I would agree that that is the case 95% of the time,  but it does not take too many disputes over payment to begin to negatively effect your bottom-line.  When a service has been provided yet the recipient unjustifiably refuses to pay for that service,  then the business owner has a choice to make:  either eat the costs of the service or enlist the services of an attorney.   It has been my experience that most business owners would rather shove a stick in their eye then have to choose between those two options, but whether you like it or not, this is the decision that the business owner has to make.  

As you may have guessed, I mainly talk to the latter, business owners that chose to contact an attorney, and without exception the first question I will ask my client is whether there is a contract.  The answer to that question is determinative of the likelihood of being able to recover this debt for the business owner.   

If the answer is "yes, we have a contract signed by the service recipient and I will send it to you immediately", then I feel pretty good about the client's likelihood of recovery.  Conversely, if the client answers, "no, but...", then the client's prognosis for recovery has suffered a two-fold set back, first, it will be more difficult to prove the existence of a oral agreement to the satisfaction of a court and therefore, more attorney fees and second, and I may be generalizing here, but it has been my experience that if someone is unwilling to sign a contract for a service then they are equally unwilling to voluntarily pay for that service.

Tomorrow I will continue with part 2.

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