71 The Alabama Lawyer 157 (2010). The VLP, Matlock and Perry Mason.

• Author: By Pamela H. Bucy

Alabama Lawyer

2010.

71 The Alabama Lawyer 157 (2010).

The VLP, Matlock and Perry Mason

The VLP, Matlock and Perry MasonBy Pamela H. Bucy"We may not have had lights but we could still tell jokes." That's how Mrs. Bradley,(fn1) her husband and their four children made it through the six hard years that began when their home burned to the ground. For one and one-half years immediately after the fire, the family of six lived in one room with two beds at a roach-invested hotel where drug deals, prostitution and police raids were common. That hotel was the only place they could afford. When their money ran out and they could no longer stay there, they moved back to their unfinished house. There they lived without water, electricity or heat for another year.

The fire that destroyed the Bradley's home started in the kitchen and spread to the entire house. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the house was a total loss. Fully insured, the Bradleys received a lump-sum payment from their insurer to rebuild their home. They carefully investigated contractors, settling on one who did an excellent job renovating their church. They signed a contract and began paying him.

At first, the contractor appeared to be doing a good job. He started quickly on their home and brought out work crews. Soon, though, he started asking for advance payments, explaining that because of Katrina, building materials and work crews were more expensive. Trusting him, the Bradleys gave him one advance payment after another. Work slowed on their house, and then stopped. Their contractor always had an excuse: "I was sick. I had to go to the doctor." Then, the Bradleys discovered that their contractor was lying, telling his subcontractors and the Bradleys' neighbors, that the Bradleys had not paid him and that was why he stopped working on the house.

Their contractor quit showing up and the Bradleys had given him all of their insurance money. Living at the hotel was miserable. The drug-dealing, prostitution and filth were getting worse. The Bradley's four children could not go outside because it wasn't safe. Throughout the summer, when they were out of school, all the children could do was watch television, play games and, as their dad said, "make up games." There was no money to take them to do anything else. The family's single hotel room grew more...