About David K. Staub Expertise I am a business and tax attorney and have spent more than 30 years assisting people with contracts in a wide variety of business situations. I can answer questions about basic contract issues. My experience includes almost all common contracts including employment agreements, contracts for the purchase and sale of a business, shareholder agreements, partnership agreements, LLC operating agreements, leases, software development agreements, distribution agreements, franchise agreements, joint venture agreements and software license agreements, to name a few. I can also direct people to sources for answers to specific legal questions which cannot be answered in a forum of this nature.
Experience
Experience in the area I have been an Illinois business attorney for almost 30 years. I have an extensive practice in the mergers and acquisitions area and have been involved in the tax and legal issues on hundreds of business transactions.
Organizations Illinois State Bar Association;
Chicago Bar Association (former Chairman of the Corporation & Business Law Committee and former Chairman of the Mergers and Acquisitions Subcommittee; former Executive Committee member, Federal Tax Committee and Chairman of subcommittee on general tax issues); Glenkirk Foundation (Trustee; Vice-Chairman/Strategic Planning); Association for Corporate Growth, Chicago Chapter; Midwest Entrepreneur Forum; Midwest Association of Alpha Delta Phi - President
Publications Commerce Magazine; YLS Journal; ISBA Section of Taxation Newsletter
Education/Credentials Harvard Law School, J.D., 1977; University of Illinois, B.S. in Accounting, with highest honors, 1974
Disclaimer Responses are intended to be informational only. No response is intended to constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Online advice is not a substitute for consultation with an attorney.
Question I made a verbal agreement with an acquaintance to fix my car, wife son etc were witnesses. He came over and started and I paid him half upfront. I continued to wait for him to come back and a few days later he called and came back and worked a little more, at that time I explained that I do not have time to just sit and wait on him that he needed to communicate his intentions and plans to me so that we wouldn't be wasting our time, he agreed. He continued to work but made a major costly mistake, he said he would do what he could to make it right. I have called and left 6 or 7 messages over the course of the weekend to contact me so we could get this straight, no returns calls. After I contacting him again on day three, he finally contacted me back and said he wouldn't look at it again for another five days, at that point I had it towed to a shop and he feels that he owes nothing to me since I didn't give him a chance and I feel that I gave him ample chances. Do I have any leg to stand on to take him to small claims court for at least partial of the bill? I do not think he owes the entire thing but at least owes a good faith amount. State of Ohio
Thanks
Answer You certainly have grounds to stand on based on your facts. Your argument is that he made an agreement and failed to perform within a reasonable period of time.
Of course, he may argue that you knew he was doing this in his free time and that you did not give him a reasonable opportunity to perform. While it sounds like that is not the case, there are always two sides to any story and the judge has to listen to both sides.
If he owes you for his breach, the amount you are entitled to receive is measured by the actual economic damages you suffered by his failure to perform his part of the bargain. Let's say he agreed to do the work for $1,000 and you paid him half ($500). He did some work but did not finish the job. You had someone else finish the job, nothing more and nothing less.
If you paid someone $500 or less to finish the job, you suffered no damage from his breach because you were able to get the entire job completed at $1,000 or less.
If you paid someone more than $500, your damages were every dollar over $500. If it cost you $900 to finish the job, your damages are $400. If it cost you $1,200, your damages are $700. What you paid him is really irrelevant.
Of course, you must be reasonable in what you do to get the car repaired. If a neighborhood shop would finish the job for $600 but you take the car to a dealer and pay $900, your acquaintance may successfully argue that your damages should be measured by what you could have paid rather than what you actually paid.
