Legal Question in Consumer Law in Pennsylvania

I have a contract from a window contractor, in which the contractor defaulted on their contract to perform said job. There is $1000.00 deposit on which the contractor has not returned for a job never started. Within the contract there is a heading for Place of Lawsuit, which in summary states:

The party agrees that any legal action involving this contract shall be brought in the contractors specified court of common pleas and the shall be brought only in the Magisterial district where

the offices of the contractor are located.

My question is: can this be legally switched to the township where the infraction occured(where the contract was signed), which was my home. I have recieved different opinions on this and need clarification as to what options I have.

Thanks for you help


Asked on 5/07/10, 10:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Solomon Weinstein Solomon Weinstein, Esquire

generally with contracts you can file either where the defendant lives or conducts business in your case where the contractor is located or where the contract took place. of course parties can agree by contract to provide for another place if suit is filed. In your case no doubt the contractor if you fuiled in your magisterial district could allege that venue should be changed due to the contract. An arguement could be made that the provision should not be adhered to for example the contract print was very small, the unfair bargaining power between contractor and consumer it could be the provision is either adhesionary a provision that should not be honored for some other reason such as it is unreasonable.

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Answered on 5/12/10, 10:46 am


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