Man accused of home improvement fraud says law needs to be fixed

BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – A judge recently deemed a Vermont law protecting against home improvement fraud as unconstitutional, and dismissed several cases against a man who was accused of not finishing contractor work. Now, that man is talking with WCAX News.

James Martin was accused of not finishing work he was paid thousands of dollars to do.

One homeowner who contracted with Martin says she was ripped off.

“He just kind of picked and choosed what he wanted to replace and what he didn’t,” said Lisa Plant of Barre.

In 2022, Plant says she hired James Martin to paint her house and do some work in the kitchen.

While some of the work was done, it wasn’t done to her satisfaction.

“I gave a $2,500 deposit on a $5,000 job. I didn’t get the job done. I didn’t get my $2,500 back,” Plant said.

She sued Martin in civil court, but the legal challenges didn’t stop there. Court paperwork states that between 2022 and 2023, Martin entered into several business contracts with clients for various home improvement projects, but in some cases, the work never got done. That led to three criminal cases against him.

Reporter Cam Smith: Was it ever your intent to take folks’ money to do the work and run away and not do it?

James Martin: No, and as a matter of fact, I think that anyone involved in these criminal cases will tell you the same. People that know me know that that is not true.

Martin was charged under Vermont’s home improvement fraud statute, amended in 2015.

Following a motion to dismiss the case, Vermont Superior Court Judge Michael Harris said in a 17-page filing that Vermont’s law, which was amended in 2015, violates the 13th Amendment’s prohibition against indentured servitude. He says the law indirectly forces a contractor to complete any unfinished work until the debt has been repaid.

“If the contractor has received money for work not done, it’s not in there… It’s just finish the job or go to jail,” said Robert Kaplan, Martin’s attorney.

According to data from the Vermont Judiciary, since the 2015 version of the law went into effect, there have been 110 convictions. The most recent data also shows 95 pending home improvement fraud cases in the state.

Martin says while he’s relieved his cases were dismissed, the law needs to change.

“The truth of the matter is that there’s still a reckoning and I still have to talk to people and I would have done that were it not for these citations that came to me. The very law itself prevented justice from being done on a number of levels,” Martin said.

Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly says she does not intend to appeal the judge’s decision and will let it stand as the law in Washington County as it pertains to home improvement fraud cases going forward.

She still encourages anyone who feels they have been defrauded to report that to law enforcement.

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