Legal Question in Consumer Law in Illinois

My son received a bill from his former orthodontist. The last time he saw the orthodontist was in August 2006 (this is now Oct. 2011) and at that time it was mutually decided to discontinue his services. My son was a minor then. My son's orthodontic brackets kept breaking and he was not progressing. The orthodontist agreed not to continue services and removed his orthodontia. Initially we gave him a down payment and other payments and then paid at each appt.,and they also billed a dental insurance company. Even after we quit seeing the orthodontist he billed the insurance company 2 more times. We stopped that. The orthodontist himself said we did not have to pay anything more. My son did not get his teeth straightened. Now the "jerk" is billing my son close to $1500 dollars. Does he have a legal right to do that? My son is now considered an adult.

PS This orthodontist was recommoned by a friend. But it turns out they were not happy with his services in the end either.


Asked on 10/07/11, 8:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

Normally professionals are paid only for services rendered. If services were not rendered beyond the time you mutually terminated, then unless there was some work that was performed prior to termination that wasn't paid for, sounds like this shouldn't be the case. But as it appears you did pay for services after termination, sounds like more is going on here. Take everything to an attorney to review with you and your son.

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Answered on 10/09/11, 9:02 pm


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