How can we fight contractor a who wants to sue us?
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How can we fight contractor a who wants to sue us?
Our contractor is suing us for $2500 because we refuse to pay a portion of our final invoice for a kitchen renovation that went bad. We have paid the initial quote, plus all change orders and written add-ons. The surprise charges added at the end are for
Asked on September 1, 2016 under Real Estate Law, Virginia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You fight it by testifying in court (and providing evidence of) what you have written: that the work was not authorized by you, and/or that it was either not completed or not done to a commercially acceptable or reasonable standard. Evidence of your communications with the contractor, all the change orders you did agree to or provide (since if you can show that all other work was properly documented, that reinforced that undocumented work was not approved), photographs of the problems or defective work, etc. will all help you. And if you are being brought into court, countersue him for compensation--you will be in court anyway. Sue for the cost to complete incomplete work and redo flawed work (you'll need new contractor proposals or quotes to document that).
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