Suing sub-contractor for ruining my floors. Can I sue the contractor that hired him?

[Jortega]

I'm about to submit a lawsuit against a sub-contractor for ruining my laminate floors. We just moved into our new house and we sold all of the old appliances on craigslist. The guy who bought them is a contractor who flips houses. He had a guy come out to pick up the appliances for him and dropped off the payment. I stated to the guy that I had no idea how to uninstall the dishwasher. The guy said that he could easily do it. But the next thing we know it, water is gushing everywhere for about 5 minutes. The guy had accidentally snapped the water valve off. So now, our floors are ruined in the kitchen, part of the living room, and in the dining room. The guy said that he's going to pay it and gives us his contact information. After getting a quote on how much it's going to cost, the guy says that he can't afford to replace all of the flooring, only the stuff that was damaged. Well the problem with that is that there is no way that we can match the floor to exactly what was installed before. We had just had a contracting company install similar flooring in another room. They tried to get it as close to a match as they could, but it still looks different.

We tried working with the guy saying that we would accept small monthly payments. From what we can tell, the guy looks like he doesn't have a lot of money. So we were wondering if we would be able to go after the main contractor?

If we are, then we have a problem. Unfortunately, we have no contact information or even a full name of the guy. I had stupidly deleted his emails along with a bunch of other emails and I can no longer recover them. Would we be able to submit a interrogatory to the sub-contractor for his employers information and would he be obligated to gives us that information?

Thanks for your responses in advance!

[Friend In Court]

First, check to see if the sub is licensed with the state. He should have not only insurance but a bond posted with the state.

As to suing the contractor, you may be up a creek at this point in time since you did not have a contract with him. The man is not really a sub unless you are paying the general contractor and the general pays him. That makes him a sub. But by hiring and paying the guy directly, he is the one you must look to for liability.

For one's protection when hiring a contractor, be sure he is licensed by the state and has insurance for even when states require a bond, the amount is usually not large enough to cover an even medium range construction/repair job.