Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If the detailed contract indicated that she could have 125 guest for $4,000, then that is the enforceable deal. In light of the short time before the wedding, I suggest that you get an attorney, right away. He or she can file an action in court, including a request for a preliminary injunction, forcing the owner to honor the contract.

I looked again at the date - June 2nd. That may still be too far away for a preliminary injunction to issue. Your remedies will probably lie with getting another place and, if appropriate, suing for damages, such as any increased cost of a new venue.

I'm rather dubious about trying to enforce a contract to provide a wedding venue by injunction. I think the family should have a face-to-face meeting with the management to try to work out a solution or obtain a prompt and complete refund without going to court. Someone made a mistake here, perhaps based on a misunderstanding. The detailed written contract MIGHT fail to specify the maximum number of attendees, but that would be quite surprising. Somwhere during the negotiations, the size of the wedding party must have come up, and if it's in the contract as 125, you need an explanation as to why the 60-person limitation suddenly arises.

Is it possible the misunderstanding has to do with size of the wedding versus size of the reception? Recent experience shows that (a) a lot fewer people attend weddings than are invited, and (b) receptions attract many more guests than weddings.

On another subject, it should be possible to get a temporary restraining order (TRO) within one to three days of filing a lawsuit, and there is normally a hearing on turning the TRO into a preliminary injunction within about two weeks. You'd have the injunction long before June 2012 if you were going to get one at all - - but I think most courts would be reluctant to use the power of an injunction to enforce a contract of this kind. Among other factors, the venue may be limiting the size of functions in response to local ordinance, fire department rules, or other reasons beyond its control.

By the way, is it possible that you are sharing your rental date with another group? Some of these venues will try to pack in two groups, either with staggered times or with some sort of partitions between the groups?