Breach Of Contract Legal Questions

With this amount of money involved, it really isn't feasible to get an attorney involved.  I'd suggest that you be more goal oriented.  Have someone else complete the work, pay for it and get your policy back.  Getting your policy back should be your #1 priority.  Fighting with the prior contractor is probably not going to be the quickest way to solve your problem.  If you've been threatened with physical violence, call the police and report it.  ... Read More

You are responsible to repay the lender but, assuming that the judge or jury believes your account that it was your friend's obligation to pay this loan (and it seems as if you have substantial evidence to support your claim), your friend would be obligated to repay you for any money you have to spend to satisfy the loan.  Of course, this assumes that your friend has the financial ability to pay you back.... Read More

These facts say you may be misclassified as and independent contractor.  However, then you are an employee and likely an employee at will.  If you have a contract, then seek legal advice and review of your contract.  If you were misclassified, you may be owed compensation because of the misclassification, and, you may be able to file for reclassification with the IRS with an SS-8 form.  As to wrongful termination, we need more facts.  If you are an employee at will, you can be fired at any time or for any reasons.  If you are a contractor with a written contract, you may have contract rights to enforce.  ... Read More

The fact that the leasing agent changed doesn't appear to be relevant.  What is important is whether your contract (your lease, together with whatever was incorporated into it such as house rules) guaranteed that there would be no animals allowed in the building (arguably, just because your lease prohibits pets doesn't mean that other tenants will not be allowed to have pets.  Also, if I was the landlord, I'd argue that no PETS doesn't mean no service aniimals).  If so, you have a claim for breach of contract, and may have the right to rescind the lease if a court considers the breach material. ... Read More

While there may be other problems with the lease (does the trailer park allow subletting?) being handwritten isn’t one of them.  If the lease is valid, you would breach it and be liable for damages (which, in most leases but perhaps not this informal one, would include attorneys’ fees) if you fail to pay the rent due for the remaining term. ... Read More

I'm sorry, but I think your chances of getting a ruling before the new scheduled court date are zero.  Right or wrong, the Judge decided to adjourn the hearing to 1/9, and there is no way to get that overturned, certainly not in time to do any good.  I'm sure you are very frustrated, but civil litigation takes a long time (I am right now working on a case which started in 2001) and even in small claims court, where they streamline the process and try to get the case moving faster, they are unlikely to be very concerned about a 5 week delay.  They are much more concerned about making sure that every party has an adequate opportunity to make their case.  As for your evidence, again small claims court is somewhat different, but as a general rule the defendant has the right to see your evidence before trial and vice versa  (I assume that you provided copies, not the originals).  Parties are supposed to be able to study the other's cases beforehand.  "Trial by ambush" is very much frowned upon.... Read More

Did you have a term for how long you would receive the higher wage?  If not, your employer can terminate that agreement at any time, just as you can by demanding a higher wage or you will quit, or simply by quitting.  If you had an agreement that you would receive the higher wage for a definite period of time, you would still have a problem, because in the jurisdictions in which I practice (I believe it is the same in Illinois) a verbal agreement is not valid if it can't be fully performed within a year, so that if you had an oral agreement to receive the higher wage for 2 years, that would probably not be enforceable.  There are some twists you could try.  For example, if the agreement was for you to receive the higher wage until you voluntarily left your employment, you could argue that, since you could have left your employment earlier than one year, the agreement COULD have been perforemd within one year and therefore is enforceable, but it is doubtful if it will work, particularly since your boss is likely to deny that you had any such agreement.... Read More

Non-compete agreements between employer and employee are viewed with some disfavor and are not always enforced, bu tI don't think either of these irregularities makes any difference.  There is no actual dispute over the date (nor, unless the non-compete ran from that date, as opposed to the date when your employment terminated, would any dispute be material) nor that you signed the agreement.... Read More

Theoretically yes.  A civil suit brought by one private person or entity against another is independent of a criminal action brought by the government.  However, breaching a contract would generally not be considered larceny (even if $1000 would be grand larceny) and the police may tell you that it si a purely civil matter.  It would probably be more fruitful for you to avail yourself of the collection procedures to collect on your judgment - levy on his assets, garnish his income, etc.... Read More

You shold bring the contract to a an attorney who can review it and see if there are any ways that the contract does not hold up.  If this was a contract for home improvement, then the Home Improvement Act applies and this is a notoriously difficult law for contractors to comply with. My office handles a lot of Home Improvement Act litigation and would be happy to speak further on this.  Please feel free to contact us if we can be of further service. ... Read More

There's no way of knowing whether the promissory note itself will be enough evidence without knowing what, if any, defense the debtor will assert.  Often the promissory note itself is enough, but if, for example, the debtor asserts that they didn't sign the note, you would need evidence (from a handwriting expert usually) that the signature is heirs.  If the debtor claims that she was not of age when she signed the note, you would need evidence of her true age.  And so on.  The note is certainly a sufficient basis to start a lawsuit, except that the debt may have been wiped out in bankruptcy. You say that this person filed bankruptcy after signing the promissory note, but then you seem to distinguish between her bankruptcy and her "personal" obligation, implying that the bankruptcy wasn't personal.  If the bankruptcy was for a separate entity, a corporation for example, and not the debtor personally, it would not wipe out the note, but if she personally filed bankruptcy, it almost certainly would. With limited exceptions, such as debts arising out of drunk driving, student loans, debts incurred by fraud, etc., a bankruptcy filing wipes out all debts listed in the bankruptcy petition.  The creditors receive any payments, full or partial, from the bankruptcy estate, based on the payment plan ordered (in a ch. 13 or ch. 11) or based on the sale and pro rata distribution of the debtor's non-exempt assets (in a ch. 7).  Unsecured creditors, such as yourself, would come behind secured creditors and priority claims. If you obtain a judgment, you may be able to collect even if the debtor has no income, by forcing the sale of any assets and having the debt satisfied from the proceeds.  However, you are probably correct that you would not have recourse to any of her husband's income or assets.... Read More

Assuming that the plaintiff (the car owner) is an individual and not a corporation or other entity, an attorney is not required to file a lawsuit.  Often courts have programs to help pro se litigants, so if you plan to represent yourself, you should probably contact the  court in which you plan to file to see if it has one, and then avail yourself of whatever help the court can provide.... Read More

From what you've written (which is only one side of the story) it appears that the developer is breaching your contract.  Assuming that you can't get them to comply, your options are to abandon the project and sue the developer for any damages you've suffered due to the breach of contract, to hire another develper to complete the scope of work and sue the first developer for anyting extra you had to pay over and above the contract price, or to pay the developer what they want and then sue to recover anything extra you paid once the job is done, claiming that the agreement to pay more is invalid because it was entered into under economic curess.  This last option is probably the worst, since economic duress is very hard to establish.... Read More

The answer to "can I sue" is always yes, but the question is whether you can win.  Here, from what you've written it depends on what was agreed when the worker took over - was the original contract modified at that time to not require the contractor to supply paint and other materials?  Assuming that there is no written document embodying the new deal, a judge or jury deciding this question may  have to decide who to believe, you or the contractor, although your case would be helped if the original written contract provided, as many do, that it could not be modified orally (such clauses are not absolute, but would give you a leg up).... Read More

Barring other factors which are not mentioned in your email, there is no reason why a party with whom you've contracted can't ask you to sign a new contract more favorable to them.  If you refuse, the old contract remains in effect until it terminates, which can either be at the end of the contract's term, or upon any event that terminates the contract.  For example, if the contract is terminable at will or provides that it can be terminated upon 2 weeks notice, then the other party can terminate it or give you that 2 weeks' notice, terminate the contract, and the other party would then have no obligation to engage you again.  ... Read More

There are a number of questions here.  First, most jurisdictions require more formality in these types of agreements (post-nuptial) than in arms' length agreements.  For example, some states require that they be witnessed and/or acknowledged, like a deed.  I don't know what Florida's requirements are, but the agreement you're relying on may not comply.  Second, lealving aside the formalities, an agreement creating a monetary obligation depending on marital fault would probably violate public policy in some states.  Again, I don't know what Florida law provides.  Finally, and most problematic, you should have sought this money in your divorce action, when the Court was adjudicating the financial issues between you.  Having failed to do so and the divorce action having concluded, you may be precluded from raising the issue now.  None of this is to say that you can't possibly overcome thise hurdles, but I don't think it will be easy.... Read More