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Customer suing for breach of contract 4 months after work was completed and paid for!

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whattodoinva

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? DC

My boyfriend owns a home improvement business. He signed a contract to do painting work on a house with the homeowner. The homeowner paid him a deposit to start the work and then had a contract drawn up in the middle of the job basically saying when my b/f was to complete all of the painting and how much the final balance would be. Homeowner gave a schedule for completion and in the contract it states that deductions would be made from the final payment for each day the project was late or wasn't completed satisfactorily. My b/f and his employees finished the work on time. The homeowner was satisfied and paid the entire balance without any deductions. It should be noted that the homeowner was 2 weeks late in paying the final balance. When he finally received the check, my b/f was in the process of switching banks so he asked the homeowner to write the final check to me. I went and cashed the check--no problem. We never heard anything else from the homeowner and went on our merry way.


Now 4 months later, the homeowner is suing me and my boyfriend for breach of contract. He claims that the work was NEVER done and he wants ALL his money back (deposit and final payment). I am included in the lawsuit because I cashed the final check and the homeowner is implying that the check is a "contract". I never did any work on his house, I never even saw the contract (my fault), but I knew it was completed because we went to the property the day after the work was done for my b/f to pick up the remainder of supplies left at the site. So my question is does the homeowner have much of a case against me? The contract was between the homeowner and my b/f and I have never heard of a check being used as a contract. Secondly, from an overall perspective, the entire final payment was received after the homeowner inspected the work and said they were satisfied with the work performed. Homeowner never said there were issues with the work (thus making the FULL final payment) and there was no contact made until he brought suit--many months later. Help!
 


JETX

Senior Member
So my question is does the homeowner have much of a case against me?
Based SOLELY on the contents of your post, probably not. However, you still need to file an answer to the suit, request a hearing and show up on the time/date scheduled to present your 'not me' defense.
 

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