Legal Question in Business Law in California

non payment of invoices

my lighting retrofit business in San Diego works closely with the local utility company. This utility offers rebates to customers to give them an incentive to become more efficient, and the customer can assign the rebate to go directly to my company. The rebates are reserved prior to installation, and an invoice is sent to the utility upon completion.

6 weeks ago the utility stopped paying these invoices suddenly, and I currently have over $500,000 in receivables with them, most of which is out more than 60 days. They claim the delay is a result of a new internal computer program they are installing which has rendered them unable to generate checks.

I've had to lay people off and shut my doors, and the damage to my business has been significant. I've lost tens of thousands of dollars in profit by closing for a month, I'm accruing interest charges on credit cards I've used to pay suppliers, and if I don't get paid soon I'll be out of business entirely. My question is: aside from the actual amount of the receivables I'm owed, can I go after the utility company for damages?


Asked on 8/29/08, 9:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: non payment of invoices

Yes. As long as they are reasonably foreseeable. The sooner you take action, the better. Feel free to contact me for the legal help you obviously need. You should not have allowed this to go on so long already.

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Answered on 8/29/08, 1:14 pm


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