animal vet bill

we live in minnesota. one month ago our dog chewed through her leash and bit our neighbors 5 mth. old kitten. the people were friends of ours, we made an appt. at our vet and accompanied them there, then to the university hospital for surgery on the cat. at the time we agreed to help with the bills as we were friends, and they authorized up to $1600.00 in procedures. we explained it would be very difficult for us to pay this but would do what we could. the cat died. the final bill was to be $960.00. we did verbally agree to pay this. we have already paid $550.00 as a deposit. since then the "friends" call the police to report our dog and we have had many costs incurred as a result of having to defend our dog. they have also treated us very rudely. according to our insurance company animals are considered property so we technically only owe them the replacement cost of the cat. we are wondering if we will still need to pay them the full amt. as we agreed to help, yet they have treated us so poorly since that time. Is this type of verbal contract binding? Thank you for any help in this matter.

My response:

Now that the cat is dead, your only debt is "the reasonable, and fair market value, of the same quality" of cat - - as valued on the date of death.

I understand yours and their situation, but now that the cat has died, and you're perfectly willing to pay for the value of the cat, what's their gripe with you ? What more do they want, or feel entitled to ?

IAAL

thanks so much for your reply. your response is what i've also understood to be true, however, seeing we did verbally agree to pay the bill is that a binding oral contract?

not sure why the are so angry - it was a complete accident and they know we felt horrible. i guess you just don't know about people sometimes. thanks for the advice!

lcmn said:

thanks so much for your reply. your response is what i've also understood to be true, however, seeing we did verbally agree to pay the bill is that a binding oral contract?

not sure why the are so angry - it was a complete accident and they know we felt horrible. i guess you just don't know about people sometimes. thanks for the advice!

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My response:

Since you've already paid $550.00, and since they are being "wacko" to you, tell them to "prove" any verbal agreement before they see one more dime out of you.

IAAL