Legal Question in Construction Law in Louisiana

Re: Breach of contract

Hi. You have a few options in this scenerio. First and foremost, you can bring the owner to court for breaching the contract. You can do this in small claims court or another court (depending on the amount owed). Depending on the parish, small claims court sometimes will not hear a suit when the amount in controversy is over $2000.00.

Oftentimes, breach of contract lawsuits can also recover damages and attorneys fees. It helps when you have a written contract to recover these additional items, and it also helps for your lawsuit in general.

You mentioned that you are a "licensed contractor."

There are special rules and laws regulating liens when a general contractor is involved.

First, whenever a project is over $25,000.00, a general contractor can not file a lien on the job / property unless he or she has first filed a notice of the contract with the city. The notice has to be filed before work ever begins.

If the job is less than $25,000.00, however, the notice is not required.

Second, if the person your contracted with is a homeowner (he or she owns the home), and the work was done on that home, then you must have given and had the owner sign a "notice of lien rights" form.

This form essentially notifies the homeowner that you (as contractor) will have the right to lien his or her home in case of nonpayment.

This notice is not required if you did work on a commercial building, rental unit, etc....it is only required if the work was done to a residence and the owner of the residence was living in that particular building.

If you are not a general contractor, some other rules apply.

Hope that this helps. Your situation is very common, especially in these times. We do a lot of work with contractors in liening jobs and collecting on jobs. If you would like to ask us any other questions, or if you need any help, feel free to contact us at the information below.

Good Luck,

Scott Wolfe

The Wolfe Law Offices

http://www.wolfelaw.com

[email protected]