{"id":1382,"date":"2014-08-03T11:51:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T16:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2014-08-03T11:52:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T16:52:07","slug":"1382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1382","title":{"rendered":"The Government Makes A Lousy Babysitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"webeagle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A couple from Clive, Iowa hired an independent contractor to replace windows in their home.\u00a0 The contractor, Nadir Topic, was paid a $6,000 down payment of the total estimate of $9,080.\u00a0 He never replaced the windows, nor did he ever purchase them.\u00a0 \u201cThe State charged Topic with second-degree theft\u201d and \u201ctheft-by-deception\u201d.<\/p>\n

The second charge was dropped by the State prior to trial.\u00a0 A jury found Topic guilty of the second-degree theft charge and he appealed.\u00a0 The Iowa Court of Appeals heard the case and rightfully overturned the conviction.\u00a0 The reversal was based upon the fact that \u201cthe State failed to establish that the $6,000 check belonged to the\u201d couple.\u00a0 State v. Topic<\/a>.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be accused of theft if someone gave you something.\u00a0 Evidently, the check is the focus of the crime, and Topic didn\u2019t steal the check.<\/p>\n

This action by the State (charging Topic with theft) is the result of a law that is the epitome of too many crimes.\u00a0 This matter should have been dealt with in a court of equity.\u00a0 The couple should have sued Topic for \u201cspecific performance\u201d rather than have the State intervene.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of contract law.\u00a0 Specific performance is the \u201cremedy of performance of a contract in the specific form in which it was made, or according to the precise terms agreed upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reading this case, I decided to do just a small amount of research.\u00a0 I checked to see if Mr. Topic had any previous convictions for similar circumstances, or if he had been sued for failure to perform a service.\u00a0 Anyone can easily and freely obtain this information at http:\/\/www.iowacourts.gov\/For_the_Public\/Court_Services\/Docket_Records_Search\/index.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, I went to the Iowa Better Business\u2019 website to see if Nadir Topic was an accredited window installer.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.bbb.org\/iowa\/accredited-business-directory<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0I couldn\u2019t find his name anywhere on this site.<\/p>\n

There are three lessons here.\u00a0 First, before you hire someone for a significant project around the home or business, check the two websites I just mentioned.\u00a0 Someone may be the lowest bidder on a job, but \u201cBuyer Beware\u201d!\u00a0 The lowest bid is not necessarily the best \u2018bang for the buck\u2019.<\/p>\n

Second, this case may be appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.\u00a0 If not, the decision stands.\u00a0 It proves that you should not rely upon the government to bail you out of a bad choice.\u00a0 If the High Court overturns this case, my suggestion still stands.<\/p>\n

Finally, because the Iowa Attorney General and Polk County Attorney lost this case we predict that the a legislative bill will be introduced next session to tighten up the current law that defines \u201csecond-degree theft under the theft-by-taking alternative set forth in Iowa Code section 714.1(1)\u201d.\u00a0 Fawkes-Lee & Ryan will be there to argue that these cases should not tie up criminal courts; that they should be settled in courts of equity; and that Iowa\u2019s criminal code is fat enough without having the government hold hands with property owners who make awful decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This matter should have been dealt with in a court of equity. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,17],"tags":[267,159,539,41,540,538],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-justice","category-issues","tag-fawkes-lee-ryan","tag-iowa-attorney-general","tag-iowa-better-business-bureau","tag-iowa-supreme-court","tag-polk-county-attorney","tag-state-v-nadir-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1384,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions\/1384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}