contract

[porkoil]

hello
about a year ago i went into a contract with one of my customer to do a complete rewiring of his house.

i wrote the contract and he agree for me to do the work, six months later i received a phone call from him stating that he had problem with breaker being trip.
the first thing i ask him if he was using space heaters and he said no
anyway to make a long story short, he ended up file a claim against my bond and file a law suit against me in small claim's court, he also file a report against my license with the state board
we went to small claim's court and the judge order me to give him his money back and is all because i did't have my sign contract with me, the judge said i couldn't charge him without a sign contract
can some one help me out, is this true or false ?

am filing an apeal though

thanks

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Sorry about your problem but we are not allowed to give legal advice here as we are not lawyers. I suggest you either pay the money or get a lawyer.

 

[GoldDigger]

Different states have different laws regarding contracts for work and when an oral contract is enforceable.
But the rules are pretty much always more strict in favor of a written contract when real property (real estate) or contracting work with a licensing requirement are involved.

So you want a LOCAL lawyer who is familiar with the applicable laws.

 

[flatlander]

As a contractor in CA. I do know you need to be careful that your contract is in compliance with all state laws.
That means all the obscure language and font size.
Check boxes and notices.

Do you have a signed contract?

 

[petersonra]

I read somewhere that California requires several odd things of contractors. One is a signed contract. Another is some kind of cooling off period where the buyer can cancel with no penalty. I also seem to recall there are some pitifully low down payments allowed.

Might be a good idea to get a lawyer familiar with these requirements to advise you. The judge probably knows what the law is so my guess is you just got an expensive education.

 

[kwired]

Doesn't hurt to talk to an attorney, but depending on what the contract price was, (which is probably what you were judged to pay back, plus maybe some court fees) the amount you may spend trying to appeal, and then complicate it with the fact that if you find you were not in compliance with any laws you may not get any of the charge reduced, means you lose even more then the initial judgement. So maybe talk to an attorney but don't let him go too far if the chances are not that great, and just pay up and learn from it.

We need an Angie's list type of site for contractors to identify bad customers

 

[flatlander]

That would be a large list in ca

 

[growler]

i went into a contract with one of my customer to do a complete rewiring of his house.

he ended up file a claim against my bond and file a law suit against me in small claim's court, he also file a report against my license with the state board
we went to small claim's court and the judge order me to give him his money back and is all because i did't have my sign contract with me, the judge said i couldn't charge him without a sign contract.

Might be a good idea to get a lawyer familiar with these requirements to advise you. The judge probably knows what the law is so my guess is you just got an expensive education.

I find it hard to believe that the amount of money for a complete house rewire is settled in small claims court.


I guess they could have a much higher limit in other states.

 

[petersonra]

I find it hard to believe that the amount of money for a complete house rewire is settled in small claims court.


I guess they could have a much higher limit in other states.

$10,000 according to a website I looked at.

Many states allow a person who is sued to petition to take it out of small claims court. Then the plaintiff will probably need to pay a lawyer to pursue the matter.

 

[ritelec]

What happened with the tripping circuit? Or circuits? He living with it/them or did he have someone else repair or rewire them.
Is there more to this story?

As mentioned you should probably talk to a lawyer. Not sure a hand shake is good anymore but I think it very well may be. Especially when he paid you money. Probably several payments showing there was some type if an agreement

Not a lawyer. Just my opinion. All the best with it

 

[kwired]

What happened with the tripping circuit? Or circuits? He living with it/them or did he have someone else repair or rewire them.

Probably called someone else to fix it and sued them over technicalities as well:roll: