Legal Question in Business Law in Michigan

Yes and no. A court or judge may look at that as your acceptance of payment in full, so if you want to cash the check, you need to make it clear to your customer that you will be pursuing the balance or are not accepting that as final payment. Simply because he wrote it on the check does not make it binding. He will have an argument that you "accepted" his offer of final payment, however, you can refute that by sending him a letter, certified, that while you are accepting the $2,000, it is not final payment and does not resolve the dispute between you guys. He is attempting to entrap you - forcing you to cash the check since you likely need the money, while trying to get out of the remainder of the balance. Prior to cashing the check, place something in writing wherein you clearly state that you are not accepting that as final payment or resolution of the balance owed, but as a partial payment, and will pursue the rest of your damages in court if necessary.

You should have an attorney send him a demand letter and/or the letter I described above, to let him know you are serious. This could help, and perhaps you can agree on an additional payment somewhere in between 0 and 2,000. If you want my assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Also, regarding the strength of your claims in a lawsuit, it would depend partially on what exactly his dissatisfaction is and whether the quality of your work is in question, and valid. If he is just a picky customer, who you couldn't make happy no matter what, then you have a stronger case. If your work wasn't defective and complied with all codes, etc., then you have a stronger case.

While a case such as this would normally be properly filed in the city/county wherein the contract was entered into, or the work was performed, or where the defendant resides, I recently had a case wherein the court found it had jurisdiction in the city where the check was cashed. However, in my opinion, this is a weak argument, and the Judge only made that decision because the attorney did not bring it up prior to trial, and she didn't want to transfer the case that late.

Again, contact me if you need assistance. Thanks.

The answer is an unqualified maybe. He is trying to do something in the law called an "accord and satisfaction." There are many twists and turns in this area of law. The safest method of dealing with this is to refuse the check and demand full payment and/or sue the person. http://www.wolverinelaw.com