QUESTION
Why did NYS contractor give me a "Contract" from Montana?
Asked on Jul 27th, 2020 on Contracts - New York
More details to this question:
Contractors caused much destruction to the INSIDE of my house while doing a roofing job - - one SMALL example - - they sliced through the DRYWALL of one of the finished rooms! But what worries me is the potential of leaking and premature rot, not the small cosmetic stuff. I finally got a magnifying glass to read the tiny print on the 20+ page contract, and it says "This agreement is made and entered into in the State of Montana and the laws of Montana shall govern its validity and interpretation." So I am trying to figure out how I can find a Montana contract lawyer to help me.
1 ANSWER
You don't need a Montana contract lawyer. Courts apply the laws of different states all the time, so even assuming that Montana law governs the dispute (which it probably does, but if Montana has no contact with the dispute it may not) and that applicable Montana law differs from New York's (unlikely; conract law is fairly uniform amongst the 50 states), that clause doesn't say that disputes must be litigated in Montana (which would be less liekly to be enforced anyway if Montana has no contact with the dispute). You would sue in New York and the New York court would simply apply Montana law.
Answered on Jul 28th, 2020 at 2:00 PM