Legal Question in Business Law in California

I have a question please I am a licensed contractor that performed a project for a client. About 3/4 of the way though the job he was asking me to do additional work

I explained to him we are only preforming work within the contract as any additional work must be agreed upon with a change order as it state in the contract. Now he will not pay my remaining balance due after completion of the job, also I found out he has posted this on a Google search see below Please help what can be done???

Rick is a thief, plain and simple�.took my money and didn't complete the work, totally unprofessional and worst of all, left me in a bind with a grand opening of a new restaurant patio he was supposed to be the general contractor for and I did all the work. I have to constantly hound him to get on site, poor communication from him and worst off, I now have to go to small claims court to get my monies back that he owes for not finishing the job. Steer clear of this shyster at all costs. He is a lying contractor, and doesn't follow his own contract. Anyone may contact me regarding this low life business.


Asked on 8/26/14, 1:16 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

I would have had a very different career if these kinds of disputes were not pretty common. In fact, I have one case about to go to trial in which the issue of what was included and what was not included in the contract was the center of the dispute, and I'm about to file the initial complaint in another one.

But you haven't asked a question that really can be answered beyond, you can sue him or not. If you have not gone beyond the deadline for recording a lien, you may also be able to do that, and include it in your lawsuit.

Beyond that, there's not much I can tell you without sitting down and going over all the details.

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Answered on 8/26/14, 1:43 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

I would add that the selection of a course of action may depend upon whether the amount of money in dispute is close to the small-claims threshold ($7,500) or not, and, insofar as adding a claim for libel goes, whether there is any possibility of a good defense (i.e., truth).

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Answered on 8/26/14, 1:59 pm


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