Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Bird Care Contract Gone Bad

Without a written contract I would try to figure out what this guy would owe you under the customs and practices of your trade. What is "reasonable?" Try to arrive at a reasonable figure, ask him for it and then file in small claims court. Don't press for a lot of extras. Just make it easy for the judge to understand and say this much for this bird, this much for this service, this is usual, this is reasonable. Don't try to prove your oral contract, it's too hard. Just go with what is "reasonable" and "usual" in your trade. Then in small claims court you are going to need to take an expert in there with you to testify as to what is reasonable. This expert doesn't have to be fancy. Just someone who has a lot of knowledge, like someone from your bird club.

Re: Bird Care Contract Gone Bad

You were planning to have a written contract, but he left without signing anything. Now, the bird owner has not only breached some provisions of your oral agreement, he has gone outside the terms of the oral agreement by failing to pick up all his birds. I think you are within your rights to charge him for what he agreed to pay (is there a macaw chick among the birds you still have?), and to charge him the going rate for the time outside the contract. You probably have a right to keep enough birds to pay what he owes you.

You should write him a letter now and tell him what he owes you and why, and also tell him that after a certain date you will consider the remaining birds abandoned, and will keep them or sell them. If you do sell them, you should deduct what you calculate he owes you, and send him the rest of the money - - once again, with a letter explaining how you arrived at your figures. If you need help writing these letters, many attorneys will do them for a hundred dollars or so.

In California, oral contracts are valid, with certain specific exceptions. Your agreement with the owner doesn't fall into any of the exceptions, so it is valid and theoretically enforceable. The challenge (as with any oral contract) is proving exactly what the terms of the contract were. If there were no witnesses to the oral agreement, a court or judge or arbitrator would most likely look to the custom and practice in your "industry", and would presume that the terms were in accordance with that custom and practice unless there is credible evidence to the contrary.

Assuming he agrees with you that the terms were what you stated in your posting, he owes you some money; he might also owe you some birds. If you and he cannot agree on what he owes you, you two might be able to agree on binding arbitration. Failing that, the best course might be small claims court. This costs very little, gets you a trial within a month or so, and no attorneys are allowed. The limit in California Small Claims Court is $5,000.00, and you can't get an injunction there, only a money judgment. It works just the way it looks on TV � you each tell your story to the judge, and he/she decides. In fact, the cases you see on TV are actual small claims cases that were chosen by the show's producers. The producers get people to go on the shows by promising to pay any money damages that are assessed by the judge.

The key is that you have to file your small claims case before the other guy files in regular court (called Superior Court in California). If he files first, you'll be stuck in Superior Court, with attorneys and all that. I can't tell from your posting how much money is involved, but it doesn't sound like more than $5,000.00.