Contracts Legal Questions

That depends on (a) whether you handle the matter yourself; (b) how hard the defendant will fight the action; and (c) whether the other party will, or can, pay a judgment voluntarily.  If you handle the matter yourself in small claims court, there is no defense to your claim, and you know where the other party has sufficient assets to pay your judgment (i.e. you know their bank account), you should ba able to do it for less than $1,000, not counting the value of your time.... Read Answer

"Not many of these folks even asked for a contract. I was a realtor for many years and know that copies of everything should be given under contract law to all parties." ...beware the perils of being a Google lawyer, as that statement is patently untrue. The issue here will start with the terms of the addendum, and whether its proven that you signed it, not whether you got a copy or remember signing it. If you claim the document was forged, or that its unenforceable, then you have a different issue and will need to hire a tenant/renters lawyer to review the documents and go from there. ... Read Answer

You have the right to rescind a contract if the other party materially breaches it, as it appears the contractor did.  However, although I don't know specifically about Missouri small claims courts, most small claims courts don't have the power to grant equitable (nonmnetary) relief, such as rescinding a contract and compelling the contractor to provide you with a lien waiver.  You would probably have to sue in a court of general jurisdiction.... Read Answer

That depends.  Was the information material?  A failure to disclose unimportant information is not fraud, and will not invalidate the contract.  If the person selling you a car failed to disclose that the odometer had been rolled back 40,000 miles it would probably invalidate the contract; if  he neglected to tell you that the odometer had been rolleed back 3 miles, it probably wouldn't. Did the person who knew the information have a duty to disclose it?  As a very general rule, with many exceptions, one is under no duty to tell the other party about information that you know unless is is information that you had special access to (for example, you are probably not obligated to tell a party buying your property that it is only zoned commercial, because that is a matter of public record which they can find out; you probably would be required to tell them that a neighbor had disposed of toxic chemicals on his next door property) or you have made an affirmative representation about the subject matter (for example, if the seller told the buyer that the property was zoned residential, that would probably invalidate the contract, even though they could have found out tot he contrarty by checking). Did the person who was not aware of the information enter into the contract because of that lack of information?  If the person selling you a car failed to tell you that the odometer had been rolled back that would normally invalidate the contract, but you were only buying the car because it had once been owned by Elvis and weren't planning to drive it, you didn't rely on the failure to disclose, and won't be able to invalidate the contract.... Read Answer

You can cross out anything you want prior to reaching agreeement, but of course the company may refuse to do the work if you won't agree to that clause,which I think is pretty standard.  For example, whenever you go to a doctor, you sign a form that says that if your health insurer refused to pay all or part of the bill, you will be responsible to pay it.  In order better to protect yourself, I suggest that  you get your insurer to sign off on the contractor and the scope of work. in writing, before you sign any contract.   ... Read Answer