Legal Question in Business Law in Maryland

A verbal contract can be legally binding if it was to be performed within 1 year, but the problem from a practical standpoint is proving the terms of the contract if a lawsuit becomes necessary. A contract is not enforceable if there is not a consensus between the parties on the critical terms, such as scope of the work, amount of compensation, etc. If the email you sent contained a summary of what you understood from the verbal agreement to be all of the essential terms of the contract, and if it was reasonable for you to believe, from all the circumstances, that the other party's failure to respond within a reasonable period of time indicated their agreement with the contents of the email, that would strengthen your claim. For example, if your email said that unless you heard from them that they disagreed with the email contents by x date you would assume agreement and would begin your performance, and the time limit you set out passed without response, you could argue that you relied on that to your detriment, and are therefore entitled to enforce the contract. A fallback argument in a legal action would be to sue on the legal theory known as quantum meruit, which means you are suing for the value of the work you performed and the benefits your provided, which of course you would have to prove.

I hope you are not out a lot of $$ and have from this experience learned the lesson of getting a well written contract under signature as a minimum before providing services.

Attorney Sher offers some good insight on the issues surrounding verbal contracts.

I would only add that in certain types of situations the law does not recognize a verbal contract. For instance, a real estate contract must be in writing under Maryland law. Maryland law also requires certain terms to be in writing if the agreement involves home improvement work or work solicited at a consumer's home.