Legal Question in Business Law in New Hampshire

Oral Agreement

We had oral agreement with our brother in law for work exchange. He preformed plumbing work at our home in exchange for me to re-roof his home. My brother in-law no longers wants to maintain the original agreement due to a dispute between his wife and my wife. He now wants to be compensated with cash for his work. He is bringing us to small claims court. My question is, do we have any right to try and enforce the original agreement? Or should we just consede and offer payment instead?? We never refused to uphold our end of the agreement, he has not allowed me to uphold it. We also do not have the money in full to pay him. He's never invoiced us and is basing the amount of the hours worked.


Asked on 10/24/06, 9:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lawrence Graves Coolidge & Graves PLLC

Re: Oral Agreement

I would try your case in small claims court. Kind of like the old Peoples' Court TV show, you never know what some of those judges are going to do, but you can take your best shot at proving that the oral agreement existed; also, there being no contract by which you were going to pay time + materials for the work on your roof, the rule at law is that (if the claim for payment is upheld) the measure of the value is what a contractor would have bid using the same materials, so get some estimates and be prepared to have those contractors testify if (as I expect) the hours claimed in the complaint are excessive.

Best wishes,

LDWG

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Answered on 10/24/06, 10:58 am


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