Breach Of Contract Legal Questions

If you can't travel to Alabama, you will have to sue him in Florida (absent a default, you're going to have to go to court to testify to prove your case), but it is not clear that Florida would have any basis to exercise jurisdiction over him, that depends on whether and to what extent he has any contacts with Florida, e.g. does he own any property there, visit often, do any work there, etc.  Small claims courts are normally courts of limited jurisdiction in which you can't sue an out of state resident so, unless the Florida small claims courts are different (call the court to ask), you would have to sue him in a court of general jurisdiction.  One other possibility is if you have somebody in Alabama who would want to buy your claim, but you would still probably have to go to court to testify.... Read More

There is no practical help for poor business decisions. The "loan" you made was simply foolish and you should NEVER loan money you cannotwalk away from. It will cost you more than the money lent to sue the guy and even then you get a fancy IOU called a judgement and may never see a dime if the ex employee doesn't have it to pay. This is likely an expensive lesson learned in business management. ... Read More

I definitely think you can sue.  This is a common occurence and not remotely a new type of claim. I frequently hear of photographers and videographers getting drunk at weddings and failing to load the camera or having some other technical difficulties.  The problem is calculating the damages unless there is a liquidated damages clause in the contract.  If you would like further assistance with this matter by someone who understands how aggravating it is when your hired professional ruins or misses your speacial once in a lifetime day, please feel free to contact us.... Read More

Yes. YOU cannot recover legal fees that you did not expend or are not obligated for. A second factor is hiring a lawyer not only adds the benefitsof having a lawyer, but if there is an attorney's fee recovery provision, equally adds a substantial threat to the other party that they would have to spend more than just giving you your own money back, as they could be expsoded to reimbursing your legal fees.... Read More

You can sue him for the breach of contract, but you may have a hard time since $100 interest for 2 months on a principal of $350 is about 170% annually, which is clearly usurious.  From what you've written, I see no basis to sue his wife, or to attach any vehicle, let alone one he does not own alone.  Absent a contract that specifically allows you to do so, you generally can't attach any assets until and unless you obtain a judgement on your claim  from the Court.... Read More

It would generally not be cost effective for you to hire an attorney to represent you in a small claims matter, but I really wanted to write you to warn you that any provision in your contract that you can obtain a $100,000 judgment if the other party doesn't pay you some $5000 is (without knowing all the circumstances) likely unenforceable as a penalty.... Read More

You are wasting your time. If is making six figures a year, why did he need YOu to buy a car, HE could have done so on his own if ANY of that were true, let alone BANKRUPTCY being a huge clue he is broke. The person to blame for your debacle is YOU not your deadbeat father. There could not possibly be more warnings that you were being foolish. Take the car back, with a Sheriff if need be, its yours if its solely in your name.....then take the car and sell it or trade it in to miminize your losses. ... Read More

You can have an enforceable verbal agreement to purchase the seller's interestin the business.  The facts and circumstances of your dealings and the actions that all of you engaged in will dictate whether you can enforce the alleged agreement.  You should speak with an attorney right away to share the details and get an assessment of your chances of success. ... Read More

I actually am currently handling a similar issue in court as we speak. Bear in mind that "feee consultations" are simply to establish whether you have a case and the expense and manner of retaining the lawyer to handle it. They are not educational seminars where lawyers dole out free advice on how to solve your problems for free, as unfortunately many people presume. You will likely need to plan on hiring a lawyer out of pocket, hiring an engineering expert and fighting over construction lien, arbitration provisions vs. court/jury trial issues as the starting point of any legal action. ... Read More

Unfortunately, in large part YOU took advantage of you as being poor or on section 8 does not confer special consideration or privileges when you play lawyer in court. The most common problm with pro-se litigants is the get paper judgments or settlments and never collect the money after all the expense and effort. That stated, you will likely need spend some money to HIRE a lawyer to review what you agree to as settlement and go from there. In the future waiting 2 years to address such an issue makes an emergency on your part now but not for anyone else. ... Read More

You should contact the district attorney for the case directly or the DA's office and ask to speak with the DA in charge of the case to see what assistance they need from you.  At the very least, you should send them proof of your financial losses so that in the event of a conviction, restitution to you of those losses can be made a part of the sentence.... Read More

Yes, although some small claims courts transfer cases  to other courts if a party has an attorney representing him/her/it.  If your local small claims court is one of these, the case could be transferred to another court since an llc can't represent itself, but must use an attorney.  From what you've written though, I would guess that the llc has no money with which to pay you. ... Read More

Assuming that you can prove what you've written above (which is uncertain if any of it depends on your word versus the contractor's), and assuming that there is nothing in the original ocntract which allowed the contractor to deemand payment up front (some contracts do have such provisions if, for example, one party's credit worthiness changes), then the contractor had no right to demand payment ahead of time, and you were not required to continue with the contract under that condition. ... Read More

The process of enforcing your lease against a defaulting tenant can be complex.  I'm not sure I understand exactly where things stand.  Is the tenant still in the space or has tenant abandoned the property?  Typiclaly you'd file for ejectment and then confess judgment for money and then move on to the execution process to sell the tenant's property and pursue collection against the tenant.  That all involves legal filings that must be done exactly correctly or they won't be enforceable.  Your best bet is to retain counsel.  If you are in Western PA, we would be happy to assist. ... Read More

This is a tough situation.  In the balance is your relationship with your sister vs. getting paid.  Push to get paid and you jeopardize your relationship with your sister.  That's not "fair" but its reality.  There's no right or wrong answer here.  My personal view -- its your sister.  Extend grace and wait for payment.  Don't hound her.  Hopefully she'll pay you (she's made some efforts certainly).  But if she doesn't, do you want to cut off the relationship for $940?  probably not. ... Read More

If a judgment is entered against you and you can't pay, the creditor will begin collection procedures, i.e. garnish your wages, have your property auctioned off, etc.  You didn't ask, but I can't help but chime in that you do not owe the daughter anything; you owe your friend's estate, and only a representative of the estate (executor or administrator) can properly sue you for it.  This will probably require a beneficiary of the estate to start a court proceeding to get the court to authorize him or her to act for the estate. It may be that the daughter is the sole beneficiary, but it may also be that your friend had creditors who would be paid first from the estate and/or other beneficiaries who are entitled to their share of the money, or the daughter may not even be a beneficiary at all.  In any of these cases, paying the daughter will not satisfy your obligation to the estate. ... Read More

If not wanting to honor the lease is the only reason the landlord has for refusing to follow it (for example, the landlord doesn't claim fraud, that the lease is illegal in some way, that it gives the landlord the right to terminate it, that the person who signed it for the landlord was not authorizedto sign it, etc.), a court would force the landlord to comply. It is possible that the other tenant has a lease with a restrictive covenant in it, i.e. a provision that says that no bar can occupy your premises.  If so, one of you is going to lose out; it is impossible to comply with both leases.  In that case, if you can't work out a settlement between the 3 of you, the landlord would be liable for any damages the losing party suffers.  My instinct would be that if, in that case, the other party had recorded its lease, it would win, you would not be able to operate your bar, and the landlord would have to pay you any monetary damages you could prove that you had suffered due to its breach of the lease, because you could have discovered the restrictive covenant if you had checked the land records; if the other tenant had not recorded its lease with the restrictive covenant, my sense it that it would lose, you could open your bar, and the landlord would have to compensate the other tenant for the breach of its lease.... Read More