District of Columbia Contracts Legal Questions

Whether you can terminate the agreement depends upon many things including the terms of the agreement. You may want to consider hiring an attorney to write a demand letter as the temp agency may respond to your request for a copy of the agreement if you've retained counsel. Russo Law LLC 929-262-1101 Info@russolaw-llc.com www.russolaw-llc.com... Read More

When you changed the contract before signing, and sent it to your prospective landlord, you made a counteroffer (the initial contract proposal was an offer.)  The question is whether the landlord accepted your counteroffer, which he/she/it could have done by signing the amended contract.  Even if the landlord did not countersign, if the parties continued to act as if they had a contract (e.g. you continued to pay rent, the landlord continued to allow you to occupy the space and kept supplying heat, etc.), there is a good chance that a Court will find that a contract was formed. ... Read More

You can probably sue in either court, as your former roommate would normally be subject to the jurisdiction of either.  If you were talking about a court of general jurisdiction, I would definitely say D.C., since that is more convenient for you.  However, small claims courts sometimes have very limited jurisdiction, and you can't always sue non-residents of the jurisdiction there.  If you want to file a small claims action (and I agree that you should rather than file a case in the higher court), you should contact the clerk of the small claims court and ask if you can sue a Va. resident there.  If so, do so; if not, file in Va.... Read More

All jurisdictions have statutes of limitations on collecting debts, which differ from state to state.  Usually the limitations period runs from the date the debt was supposed to be repaid.  If there is no date specified for when the debt is supposed to be repaid, it is usually construed to become due either upon demand, or within a "reasonable" period of time.  In New York, where I primarily practice, the limitations period is 6 years from when the debt was supposed to be repaid (unless the contract to repay the debt says otherwise).  I don't know what the period is in D.C., or even if D.C. law would apply (it might not if, for example, you loaned money to a Maryland resident).  If you are beyond the applicable statute of limitations, there may still be some (rare) circumstances which can extend the statute of limitations in some jurisdictions, such as a written acknowledgement of the debt or where a debtor is estopped to rely on the statute because he lied to induce the other side not to file suit in a timely fashion.... Read More