Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Georgia
Do I have a case against our former florist?
On August 5, my fiance wrote our florist a check for a little over 4K for our wedding. Four days later we experienced a family death and decided to just have a ceremony and cancel our reception. We canceled vendors, but still had to pay most of them due to the late canceling. When we notified our florist, he said it was too late to cancel because he had already ordered the flowers, and still put our check through. We tried to stop payment, but we were too late. Having to pay all of our vendors up front for the cancellation almost broke us, and the check bounced. He is now pursuing us for the entire 4K and we have received a letter saying we have 10 days to pay.
I never signed a contract with him and we never received any product or service from him AT ALL. The only dealings he ever had were with me and the contract that I never signed was in my name, but the check is on my husband. We are willing to pay the cost of the flowers, but not the whole thing. If we do have to pay the entire amount, does he have to give us something in return?
The florist claims that not having a contract is meaningless, he is pursuing the bounced check.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Do I have a case against our former florist?
The lack of a written contract is not irrelevant, but does not excuse non-payment. However, if you make the payment, the florist would have to then provide the flowers. The fact that the florist never provided the flowers might excuse payment, but it depend son the circumstances.
If you would like to discuss any issues further, please feel free to contact my office. My contact information is below. Thank you.
The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relation has been created or should be implied.
Glenn M. Lyon, Esq
MacGregor Lyon, LLC
Promenade II
1230 Peachtree Street NE
Suite 1900
Atlanta Georgia 30309
Phone 404.942.3545
Fax 404.795.0993
www.macgregorlyon.com