Litigation

Madeline O’Connor.

Q: I own a landscaping business and have a number of customers who have not paid me for the services I provided them. How can I go about collecting the money that is owed to me?

A: Initially, you or your attorney could send a letter to your customer demanding payment for the services provided. Although it is not necessary to send a letter to your customer demanding payment, it is an affordable method to seek payment, and you can always resort to filing suit in court if the letter does not achieve any results.

If it becomes necessary to file suit in court, depending on the arrangement you had with your customer, there are different claims that you can assert in a complaint to seek payment for the services that you provided.

For example, if you had a written or oral agreement/contract with your customer pursuant to which you agreed to provide services in return for payment, you can seek damages for breach of contract. Some laws require that the contract be in writing in order to be enforceable.

In addition, you can seek damages under a theory known as “unjust enrichment.” A claim for unjust enrichment is one in which you state that you provided services to your customer, and your customer accepted and received the benefit and value of those services. As a result, you can claim that your customer was unjustly enriched at your expense and that you are entitled to damages. This claim can be asserted even if you cannot prove that you had a contract with your customer because it is based upon the notion that fairness requires you to be compensated for the benefit of those services you provided your customer.

Finally, if you regularly sent invoices or bills to your customer for the services you provided, you can seek damages for an account stated. Under an account stated theory, you may recover payment for the services you provided if the invoices (a.k.a. account statements) that you sent to your customer accurately detailed the services you provided and the balance due for those services, and the invoices were not objected to by the customer within a reasonable time after receipt.