Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Servies Paid For. Services not completed

I have paid over 25k in services which have not nearly been fulfilled. It is work to be done on a 30' aluminum boat. I have not contacted the person regarding this for 3 weeks. He has control of over 160k of my property. I have seen the boat itself valued at 120k and I believe the engines are in the garage, valued at 40k.

I am very nervous and would like to recover my property and sue for the monies paid as our agreement for duration of time has lapsed months ago. My calls are ignored from many different numbers, countless times. I have proof of the time and work agreements in emails.

I have also found lots of beer cans and drug paraphernalia on my boat where this person has done minimal work.

What is my next step? Ideally if the person could just do the work I would be very happy as I doubt the 25k could ever be recovered from the person and it is likely a complete loss.


Asked on 4/24/08, 1:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: Servies Paid For. Services not completed

This sounds like quite a mess. If you have found beer cans and drug paraphernalia around the boat, do you think the $25 k worth of work will be acceptable, even if done? Or will the boat possibly come back in worse shape than when you surrendered it to him? In my opinion, your first order of business is to get your boat back, then you may want to initiate collection action against him. If he has no assets, all the more reason to get your boat back NOW. If it disappears for whatever reason, you will have no way to recover the cost of the boat from him.

I know you may feel like you are throwing good money after bad, but I would recommend you get an attorney to help you with each of these steps. You need to know exactly what your rights are (which can only really be clear after a more in depth review than is possible here, including review of the emails you mentioned)and you need to be able to act quickly and effectively to recover your property, and if possible, some or all of your money.

Good luck!

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Answered on 4/24/08, 10:30 am


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