Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

My boyfriend owns a home improvement business. He signed a contract to do painting work on a house with the homeowner. The homeowner paid him a deposit to start the work and then had a contract drawn up in the middle of the job basically saying when my b/f was to complete all of the painting and how much the final balance would be. Homeowner gave a schedule for completion and in the contract it states that deductions would be made from the final payment for each day the project was late or wasn't completed satisfactorily. My b/f and his employees finished the work on time. The homeowner was satisfied and paid the entire balance without any deductions. It should be noted that the homeowner was 2 weeks late in paying the final balance. When he finally received the check, my b/f was in the process of switching banks so he asked the homeowner to write the final check to me. I went and cashed the check--no problem. Never heard anything else from the homeowner.

Now 6 months later, the homeowner is suing me and my boyfriend for breach of contract. He claims that the work was NEVER done and he wants ALL his money back (deposit and final payment). I am included in the lawsuit because I cashed the final check and the homeowner is implying that the check is a "contract". I never did any work on his house, I never even saw the contract (my fault), but I knew it was completed because we went to the property the day after the work was done for my b/f to pick up the remainder of supplies left at the site. So my question is does the homeowner have much of a case against me? The contract was between the homeowner and my b/f and I have never heard of a check being used as a contract. Secondly, from an overall perspective, the entire final payment was received after the homeowner inspected the work and said they were satisfied with the work performed. Homeowner never said there were issues with the work (thus making the FULL final payment) until he brought suit--many months later.


Asked on 2/09/10, 9:52 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

No, not much of a case against you(nor your boyfriend, for hat matter) I would think, if the facts are as you claim, but you may still want to consult with a lawyer as to how you should best go about answering this suit and having it

dismissed (a least with you as a defendant).

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Answered on 2/14/10, 11:50 am


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