Are verbal contracts legally enforceable?

"A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on"

ques. former friend received forecloser letter from bank he was going to let them have it back i said let me buy it for what the bank wants him to pay or lose it he said ok 911.00 that day icame up with 750 went to bank with him ask if i could hav a week to get remainder bank said sureall igot was the bank receipt with his name my name on nothing due to not having it all to get deed that day payed another 100 leaves my balance at 50/ now hesays deal off wont take my 50 were do i stand leaglly how do i get my land

Can't advise you on this situation, John, but it seems to me that it's fishy the bank didn't actually generate a proper receipt that indicating what the payment was for, what amount remained, etc. You also should have had a contract - written, not verbal - with your friend indicating that if you assumed the debt you would also receive the transferred deed for the property. Good luck with this one.

I agreed to but a cricket outfield roller from Leicestershire CCc for £600. I visited their site twice the last time being two weeks ago to view the item. It would not start but they promised to get it goimg. If this was a problem I told them to get a third party in a I would pay. I went away to arrange transport. I phoned them last week without any rersponse. I phoned them on Friday to make final arrangements but they told me they had already sold it (In the last two weeks I presume). This was done without any contact with me.

Have they broken a verbal/oral contract.

I was going to buy a car from a dealer. I called and confirmed a price. I was sent an e-mail stating the price. I then asked two or three times if this price was correst. I was told the price was correct. Then my wife and I went to see the car. I went to buy the car. When I got to the dealer I again asked two or three times was this price correct, I was told it was and that the sales person had checked the price with their manager. Then they brought me the paper and aske dso do we have a deal and I said yes, I have the paper with the agreed upon price. Then I asked agin three or four times is this the correct price and again I was told it was. When we went to the finance department. They took the paper work into the other room. The sales person came back and said that there had been a mistake! We were $ 8,000 a part on the deal.

Do I have any recourse?? I have the e-mail and the deal they offered me in my hands.

Thank YOU,

I have an oral agreement with a gentleman to paint an apartment complex. After completing the first coat of paint, he told me that he needed me to not work for a week because he was short on money. I discovered that he had gotten another painter to complete the work for a cheaper price. I went to this person and questioned him about this and he told me that the other person was only doing some touch-up work and that he still wanted me to finish the job. This was 3 weeks ago and the second coat of paint is now complete and the person is now working on the interior. The only evidence that I have is a hand written estimate. Do I have any recourse?

Keith Plumley
Atkinson, GA

Hi Dave,
I was offered a position in a real estate firm . The affiliated position I was asked to be involved in was this: One partner of the firm wanted me to be his sole Buyer's Agent. Thus , the team of his was the partner doing the listing of properties, his secretary ( paid contractual employee) conducted the paperwork etc) and me - the buyer's agent for all buyers who inquired on the Partner's properties or who were referred directly to him through friends, banks etc.
All was as agreed upon until the secretary started withholding buyer inquiries from me and keeping them for herself and the Partner. Prior to this behavior she had been demeaning to me and I had attempted to address this in a professional manner with the partner and then at his suggestion with the two of them.
In the end, she had kept many buyers for herself( although her contractual agreement forbid her from showing property, so perhaps she knew she would be successful in getting rid of me( somehow she must have envied my youthful energy ( we are same age but I am much younger in many ways) and then either she would have -or she could give to her boss - the partner- those coveted buyers whom she'd 'stolen' from me.

Since my verbal contract for 4 + months was pretty consistent, what strategies, suggestions do you have when I go to mediation with the local board?
Thank you very much

have a friend who agreed to put up a fence for us. In return we'd pay him $400 plus buy a power washer (worth $400). We bought him the power washer and now he's not returning our calls and we've pretty much got the idea he's not doing the fence. However, I doubt he's going to give back the power washer or the money that we spent on it. I'll probably have to take him to court. Here's the other part. Just before this, we were flooded in this area (iowa floods of 2008). We borrowed his power washer which was over 3 yrs old and it died within 5 min of using it. We had it checked out and the guy said the pump was bad and it could have died at any time. We're thinking he rushed us into getting him the power washer now because we told him we weren't going to pay for one previously. However, he legitimately acted like he was going to do the fence, we trusted him. There were other parts of our house he wanted to help on too. In court, do we have a case, even if we don't say anything about the old power washer??

Meagan, sounds like a tough situation. I suggest that you indeed go into small claims court, but think beforehand whether it's worth $400 to potentially have an angry neighbor forever, versus just writing off the loss and getting on with your lives.

Bob gave my son an atv/4-wheeler worth app 2500.00. It needed app 2500.00 worh of mechanic work performed. My son performed the work and 2 moths later Bob comes back and wants his atv back and stateing that he did not give Paul the atv. app. 35 days ago Paul sent Bob a certified letter stateing that the only way he was giving the atv back was if Bob paid him the 2500.00 for the mechanic bill. Bob shows up today wanting to take the atv and Paul refuses to give it to him without paying the bill. Bob said he was going to the police and report it stolen! Paul is scared! can the police make Paul give the atv back??? or does it have to go before a judge??? Paul has no contract signed!!!but does have a copy of the certified letter stateing that if Bob does not pay his bill within 30 days he is to late! Bob showed up 33 days later!! refuseing to pay.

We paid a guy to remodal our bathroom back in Sept. he still has not finished it and will not return my calls. My son works for him and he has talked to him about it and the just laughs and says ( what can they do about it). He says that he is loosing money on theis job b/c he priced it to low.It appears that he has no intention of finishing the job. My trusting husband has paid him all the money unfortunatley ($3500.00). It there anyting we can do?

Judy

Hi I finished working self employed as a recruitment consultant last august and my employer is stating that he does not owe me commission as it is a custom within recruitment agencies not to pay owed commission if the employer has not recieved the money by the time I left. I worked for the company for three years and I had never heard of this custom before. The people i had placed had worked the hours by the date i left so it was just a case of invoicing the client for the money. Can you let me know if this is true?

I heard from a friend that an elderly woman in my neighbourhood wished to sell her car. I called at her place to inspect the car that was for sale. I was shown a Honda Civic by the woman's grandson, Ail. I noted that the car had an odometer reading of 63,000KM. I indicated that I was prepared to buy the car for $10,000 and Ali said that it was a price he could accept. I left $800 as a deposit with Ali.

Before taking the delivery of the car, I discovered that it was Ali whi owned the car, not his grandmother. Also, it had done 163,000 Km since new.

Q1. Advice me if I am entitle to renounce the agreement and the return of my deposit.

Q2.would your advice be different if Ali had said to me during the negotiation that he belived the odometer reading to be genuine?

I was wondering if an employer is obligated to pay commission on sales for last year and a half. This was averbal agreement and many people were aware of it. The commission is at about 15,000 dollars, and i have since then been fired. What kind of legal action can I pursue??

Dear Dave

A little over 3 years ago I went to work as Executive Director for an association. As foolish as it was I did not obtain a written contract but we did enter into a witnessed verbal agreement and I went to work. There are several board members who have had issue with hiring me since the beginning and have made my position less than pleasant. Five months ago I received a bonus acknowledging my hard work and contributions to the association. There has since been a change of board members and the new board members are seeking reasons to remove me. Here is my question - since there is no issue with my work performance and there is no issue with my management of the association, if the board decides to terminate me do I have any recourse? I do not want to keep the position if they would like me to leave but I would like some type of financial compensation. I work out of my house so all of the associations records/documents are stored in my basement and all of their data is my computer as the computer, etc. belong to me.

Thank you for your assistance.

Greg, I would get written statements from the people you believe were aware of your commission offer from the company, then send a letter to the president of the company detailing the exact sales you brought in that were eligible for the commission, a copy (not the original!) of the statements from others and a spreadsheet showing exactly ow you calculate the $15,000 you believe you're owed. Ask for a chance to meet and talk about a settlement prior to your gong to small claims court and see what happens. Good luck.

Katie, you probably have no recourse because most states are what are called "at will" employment states which means that you can be fired for any - or no - cause and there's not really much you can do about it. What I would suggest instead, however, is you exploring what you can do to make your relationship with these Board members more pleasant. Have you had a meeting where you let them air their grievances? Created a "task force" with them involved so that they can address some of what hey believe needs to be different about the association? I'd try to solve the problem rather than block them exercising their legal obligation as Board members to steer the organization in the direction they believe is best for it.

I paid for a hotel room this last Thursday in cash for use of the room on Saturday. Friday night i called and asked the women working at the front desk if the room was booked so i could come in and decorate it for the following night. She paused for a moment. I told her that if she needed to talk to a manager and get back to me it is fine because i dont want my things touched. She told me it was fine. I told her okay but if my things are messed with i will be reimbursed for the room and all of the decorations she said that is fine. I go in at 11pm no one has still checked into the room. I got the key and decorated for the next 3 hours. The next night was my bestfriends bachelorette party (the reason I decorated) I walk into the room and everything is gone. My bestfriend, the wedding party, and myself were so upset that we called it a night and all went home. I talked to the manager the next morning and she told me i could get my money back. I told her i also wanted atleast 50$ for the decorations and presents (though i spent more i was being civil). She promised me that i could pick the money up Tuesday night when i got off of work. At 930pm i drive to the hotel and ask for my money. the young lady tells me the manager didnt come in today. This is 2 broken verbal contracts....Can i do anything???

Unfortunately, probably not. The down side of a verbal contract is that there's no proof that it was made nor any record of the terms agreed upon. Sorry.

A broker has agreed verbally with me to pay me commissions on new accounts , just brougt a new account and refuses to pay. Has paid 3 or 4 times on other accounts. Now he wants a new "partner". Can I sue for the $4500 commission? He is in Tx, the account is in NJ, I am in Sc..If I can where do I file? Thanks

Dan, until you started listing all the states involved, I was thinking that maybe you could have some sort of case. But, honestly, with that level of complexity I think you'd be hard set to figure out where to prosecute the case, let alone establish a solid evidence trail and inform a judge about what happened. Sorry.

What if you were interested in doing a puppy training so you contacted a man who claims to be a puppy trainer. He then emails you prices for his services, and offers to meet up with you and your puppy on a particular day to talk about his services and get to know me and my puppy. So, I agree to meet with him. (At this point there is no mentioning of a "consultation fee of $79" nor a gas mileage fee. He comes over the next week and we talk for a long time. He explains his services and shows me what he would be doing with the puppy. It sounds good, and the price is doable. Then in excitement I tell him I'd like his services- 6weeks of puppy training. I write him a check for the 6week course without thinking and he says, great, we'll begin as soon as you have time. We''ll make a schedual. So, it's all great until he leaves my home.
Not to long after he leaves my home I realize the time constraints I have that will not allow for me to meet with this man 6 times a week to teach the puppy. I also realize how little I knew of this man, and that he had no real creditials or references other than what he said about himself. So, I decide to call him...literally a few moments after giving him the check, that I did not want to go through with the services and I wanted my money back. I said it kindly, and professionally, and I didn't think it would be a big deal at all.
He told me he had already cashed it and he didn't offer refunds.
I was in shock because I just paid him almost $300 for services I was not going to use!
I felt scammed. Any other company would rightfully refund the money, especially since I had given him the check literally minutes earlier.
I continue to tell him I was rfusing his services, but he refused to refund my money. So, I had to take further measures and inform my bank of what I felt was a scam, and they stopped the payment.
He then emails me back the next day implying that he was going to take me to small claims court. He said tht he would let me out of the 6 week verbal contract, but that I had to pay an "initial consultation fee of $79" and a stop payment fee of $14 and a gas mileage fee of $10. He had mentioned nothing about a consultation fee before, we had just met to talk! And he had not mentioned anything abotu gas before either. The stop payment fee---well maybe that's justified, but I had requested a refund and he refused. Does his claim have any basis? And if not, can I sue him for the stress he's causing me? Also, for soliciting services without having proper credentials? And lying about training tigers and lions?