Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

I verbally agreed to paint my facade for a quantity and paid half in advance. The person I hired, first removed a couple of antique lamps from the facade and kept them in his workshop. He painted half of the facade and one day stop coming. He is not responding my calls and didn't gave me back my lamps.

Can I civil law suit this person even though there is no written contract?

thank you.

New York


Asked on 7/13/10, 8:20 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Yes. Most oral contracts are enforceable. I see no reason why yours wouldn't be unless too much time has passed.

My answer presumes that your agreement actually includes all of the required elements of a contract. It probably does, but it might not.

You may have a hard time proving what your agreement said, which is the main reason it is usually better to have an agreement in writing. At a bare minimum, you should be able to get your antique lamps back.

Good luck.

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Answered on 7/13/10, 11:35 pm


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