Legal advice?

[Chapel-Hill-Coug]

Okay, so lets say a business owner (his identity will remain confidential :-)) orders a business sign from an independent contractor in January '07 for $1800 (which was a good deal, or seemed so at the time). The business pays the contractor $900 up front, and promises the rest upon completion. The two parties stay in touch for two months, during which time there are delays on the materials for making the sign. The contractor calls the business in late March and says, "We're ready to go, the sign will be up next week." Two weeks later, no sign. So the business owner tries to call the contractor several times a week from mid-April into mid-May, only to have no calls returned nor any other contact from contractor. The installation of the sign is at this point 3 months overdue. The only other recourse is that the owner has found the listed home address for the contractor. What should this business do? From your collective experience, and the comment of any lawyers would be wonderful, is it even worth pursuing damages or will said business owner regret going for a mere $900 and potentially a few other damages. Should he/she just suck it up and call a new sign builder? Other than filing a complaint with the Division of Consumer Protection, what can this business owner do? (The contractor at this point appears to be completely out of reach.)

[Detroitdad]

Sounds like a visit to small claims court might be in order for you. You should be able to get a judgement, but enforcing it (i.e. collecting) will be your responsiblity.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Chapel-Hill-Coug

Okay, so lets say a business owner (his identity will remain confidential :-)) orders a business sign from an independent contractor in January '07 for $1800 (which was a good deal, or seemed so at the time). The business pays the contractor $900 up front, and promises the rest upon completion. The two parties stay in touch for two months, during which time there are delays on the materials for making the sign. The contractor calls the business in late March and says, "We're ready to go, the sign will be up next week." Two weeks later, no sign. So the business owner tries to call the contractor several times a week from mid-April into mid-May, only to have no calls returned nor any other contact from contractor. The installation of the sign is at this point 3 months overdue. The only other recourse is that the owner has found the listed home address for the contractor. What should this business do? From your collective experience, and the comment of any lawyers would be wonderful, is it even worth pursuing damages or will said business owner regret going for a mere $900 and potentially a few other damages. Should he/she just suck it up and call a new sign builder? Other than filing a complaint with the Division of Consumer Protection, what can this business owner do? (The contractor at this point appears to be completely out of reach.)

Do you know any large Italian men?

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Do you know any large Italian men?

I do. Lots of 'em.

[SeattleUte]

Small claims court. Don't hire any lawyers.

[YOhio]

Get Gephardt.

[Archaea]

small claims.

Send a letter stating you're getting substitute performance and that he will be liable for whatever it costs, if you can't get somebody to do it faster.

Then sue him in small claims.

[Chapel-Hill-Coug]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Small claims court. Don't hire any lawyers.

Thanks for the advice Detroitdad, SU and Arch. Now that I think about it (for some reason the possibility of small claims didn't even register in my mind), I'm sure this is what I'll advise to my business owner friend.