How do you think this will be viewed in court?

Cherry_Bomb

Bit of background my OH did some building work before Xmas. Half way through the job customer refused to pay. OH was going to take her to court but decided not to (wasn't a huge amount of money anyway and being busy with other things wasn't really a high priority)
Customer turned into a bit of a nutter so we kind of let it go and moved on.

Received a bizarre letter from this customer a couple of weeks ago saying she is taking OH to court for X amount of money (she's saying OH took the money for materials and kept it from himself)
Today we received court papers from her now stating she intends to pursue him for Y amount.

Considering her story has changed twice how do you think the court will view this?

Her letter from a few weeks ago states OH quoted her £425 for the job.
Court papers are saying he quoted her £850 for the job

Obviously 2 quite different amounts. Will she be asked to explain why her story has now changed?

bap98189

Who knows, but the court will be interested in fact and documents. The quotation sounds pretty irrelevant in this case since she is claiming money she says he owes her. Did she pay your husband any money and if so does she have any kind of receipt or evidence of this? If not she is going to find it difficult to get anywhere.

bod1467

I have no experience of this, but my opinion is that a judge would view a changing story in a dim light.

Cherry_Bomb

Thanks for the replies. She gave him money to cover the cost of materials all of which can be accounted for from the invoices we have.
He doesn't dispute her handed over money for materials. She did and it was spent.

She's claiming OH kept the money for himself instead of buying materials with it. Everything he bought is now in her bathroom. She has the materials!

I was just interested in what others thought of the changing amounts.

I don't really know what happens in court but OH is fully intending on asking her why (if he gets the chance don't know if he will!) she has written in a letter claiming one amount and now she's trying to claim a different amount.

arcon5

If your defence is the claim is vicitious I think the material changes in her claim will be considered by a judge.

Has she denied receiving the materials? If not, what is the time frame between leaving the job and the court case?

Cherry_Bomb

The job started end of Nov/beginning of Dec and we received a letter from her beginning of April. Court papers arrived today.

She never denied receiving the materials before so I'm assuming this is a new story for her. She's a very strange lady who has continuously changed her story regarding quotes, material costs, payment etc
We just never had any proof of her constantly changing her tune until now.

arcon5

So what is the basis for the claim? :huh:


The fact she has not contacted you for 4 months could also act in your favour

Cherry_Bomb

This is the particulars of her claim.

In Mid November Mr X started work for me. We agreed on a price of £850 which I gave to him (her letter dated beginning of April states the price she agreed with him was £425)
Half way through the job Mr X asked for another £850 (not true but we're not worried about this seeing as she would have to prove he asked for it. He never asked therefore there can't be any proof)
He stopped working and refused to finish the job unless I paid him another £800 (again not true but my OH has a text msg from this woman saying don't come back. Whether a text can be used as proof I don't know but we have something that at least shows she stopped the work, not him)
I therefore request a full refund to finish the job with another fitter. This money is to cover the costs of materials.

I don't really understand it tbh!

arcon5

Yes a text message can be used.

So she paid for the whole job to be completed including materials then terminated the contract half way through? If so I can't help but think you would only be entitled to cover your costs from the amount paid - this wil be materials + your labour for the time you was there.

If she has the materials I can't see how she thinks she is entitled to a full refund. She sounds like a nutter none the les

toffe

you really don't have to worry about the two different amounts if what you say is accurate.

if her claim is that he kept the money for himelf but he has invoices showing he bought the materils for the job then thats a defence in itself.

even if he didn't use the materials on the job, due to being effectively sacked by the claimant, he still had to buy them, he was still therefore out of pocket and he would not be liable to return the cost of the materials.

arcon5

toffe wrote: »

you really don't have to worry about the two different amounts if what you say is accurate.

if her claim is that he kept the money for himelf but he has invoices showing he bought the materils for the job then thats a defence in itself.

even if he didn't use the materials on the job, due to being effectively sacked by the claimant, he still had to buy them, he was still therefore out of pocket and he would not be liable to return the cost of the materials.

+ labour