Can I win in small claims court with only emails of an owner promising me to pay?
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Can I win in small claims court with only emails of an owner promising me to pay?
I am a air conditioning company that use to do work for a local property management company. An employee would call me over the phone and give me address of rental house that needed AC repair and I would fix and later invoice by email. This employee is no longer with the company and my payments stopped coming. I have countless emails to the owner promising to pay me and they once also said they sent me payment and it got lost in mail and would resend. However still no money. If I go to small claims court is this enough to win my case with only emails? I have emails of my invoices also.
Asked on August 22, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Florida
Answers:
Douglas Forsyth / Dion & Forsyth, P.A.
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Yes. You have two claims of action you can raise, one breach of an oral contract (the stronger of the two arguments), and the second unjust enrichment. You have performance on your side and partial performance on their side (assuming the payments you reference was for the job you describe) showing ratification of the agreement even if done through an employee over the phone. The emails from the owners are more evidence showing ratification on top of the payments already received.
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