Several weeks ago my neighbor was getting her tree trimmed. I went to ask the foreman about possibly having mine trimmed too. We talked a little about what I might want done and how much it would cost ($325) and then I said I needed to talk to my husband about it. By the time I talked to him, the foreman was gone and all of the workers didn’t speak English. I used my tortured Spanish to tell them to tell the foreman to stop by and talk to me when he got back. A few hours later the workers packed up and left, and I never talked to the foreman again.
Fast forward to today. It’s about 3 weeks later and I get home and my neighbor mentions that they guys came out and trimmed my tree. I was stunned. We had no contract, either verbal or written, we hadn’t discussed a time or made any plans at all. I didn’t give them any permission or authorization to trim my trees.
They didn’t leave a bill, but I’m quite sure they didn’t do this out of the goodness of their hearts. I’m sure they will come asking for money soon.
On the one hand, they did a good job and they provided me with a service.
On the other hand, I didn’t ask them to, and I could have changed my mind or decided to have another company do it, or whatever. It makes me mad that they were so presumptuous!
Should I pay them, should I refuse? Should I make a low-ball offer?
Your situation is strikingly similar to a classic law school hypothetical. From the wiki on quantum meruit:
Not offering legal advice, and not even saying your situation is the same (you appear not to have even agreed that the tree should be trimmed). But the concept of quantum meruit is one way to think about your problem.
From an ethical perspective, I’d say you don’t owe him anything if this was intentional. But if he thought you had a deal and it was just lost in translation, I would probably at least pay his costs assuming I wanted the trimming and the costs are less than the best deal I could have gotten for the trimming.
The short answer is no since you have no written agreement. Was it the foreman that came back or the guys who didn’t speak English well? If it was the latter I’d probably decide what if anything to pay them based on whether or not I was going to get it done anyway, although I would never be sure if I was intentionally scammed or not and I would never knowingly hire uninsured workers for anything with a potential for damage or injury. If it was the foreman I wound want a very good explanation for why he did it without your consent and I doubt I’d pay him even then unless he convinced me that it was a translation problem.
A verbal agreement is binding, but in this case, there was a language barrier so there was no true communication or agreement. I don’t think a court would hold you to the cost of this work.
However, you ARE happy with the work. IF they ask for money, I’d consider giving them 1/2 as a happy medium.
According to Judge Judy, if there is no “meeting of the minds” there is, in fact no contract, verbal or otherwise. You don’t have to pay them since you never authorized the work to be done. I doubt they would bother to take you to small claims court over it, but even if they did your defense is simple… I never signed anything, I never scheduled a date to have the work done, and we never discussed price. I really can’t see how you could lose no matter how many witnesses they lined up to say that you told them to take care of it in broken Spanish. There was no intent on your part.
However, in the interest of karma, if the work was done to your satisfaction I would speak to the foreman and offer him some compensation even though there was clearly a miscommunication. How much you should offer if up to you. Perhaps you wait until a bill arrives and then talk to the foreman about it. If the foreman threatens to take you to court remind him that they apparently entered your property illegally and that you are thinking of calling the police to report that they trespassed. I don’t see how he can prove that you gave him permission.
Quote:… The neighbor agrees that the wall should be built, but no price is negotiated. The man builds the wall, and then asks the neighbor to compensate him for the benefit of the wall … Plaintiff will likely win because of quantum meruit. …
Wow, if that’s the way the law works that f’d up.
So if I’m talking to my neighbor and he says “We should really build a fence here” and I reply “Yeah, we really should. See you later Bob” and he goes ahead and has one built I owe him 1/2 the cost?
I have nothing even resembling a law degree, but I would think that “I have to talk to my husband,” made it pretty damn clear there was no agreement, verbally or otherwise. Who doesn’t know that the husband line means either “I really do have to discuss with my husband before committing to anything,” or “I’m politely blowing you off entirely”?
It’s a question of whether the facts support a legal agreement having been met. Your hypothetical conversation probably isn’t enough, but a conversation like:
“We should really build a fence here” – “Yeah, we really should. I don’t have much money, so I suggest that you pay for the materials and I do the work building the fence.” – “Sounds good to me. Let’s go with that. See you later Bob.”
might suggest a legally enforceable contract has been reached.
Hampshire, this isn’t my strong suit at all, but my understanding is that *quantum meruit *almost always arises in the context of an emergency when there wasn’t enough time to fully negotiate a contract. For example, when an EMT saves you while you’re unconscious.
But there are varying levels of such necessity. If the wall was necessary to avoid city fines, for example. Basically the plaintiff needs to prove that he didn’t just foist the service upon the defendant. He has to prove that, even though there wasn’t a contract, there was something more than just washing a guys window while he sits in an intersection. Exactly where that line is drawn depends on state law and the equity of the particular circumstance.
Giles, the whole point of *quantum meruit *is that it applies where there has not been a formal agreement. It applies when someone has a received a benefit that they impliedly or indirectly requested without having formed a contract.
Right – my scenario was where the two parties had apparently reached agreement on a contract, but a where a court needed to fill in the details that they hadn’t included in their agreement (which might be oral or written).
But I think there is a difference between the court filling in the details of a contract and the court finding there to be no contract, but granting damages under quantum meruit. The methods differ a bit, and the circumstances under which a court will do one or the other also vary.
I’ve got a similar situation happening right now. A contractor has had me do some quoting of countertops. I sent him a contract but in the interim he asked me to meet him at the job site. He told me the job was a go and he needed to get deposits from the homeowner. I set up the field measure and had my measurer come out and do the detailed work.
Now it’s been two weeks and he hasn’t called me back. Still waiting on a signed contract but I’m out the time for the measure. grrr. Luckily I’m not out any materials yet but still I want to get this done so I can get paid!
This is not an uncommon technique used by contractors.
You’ll discuss the possibility of doing something and then drop it without giving a definate yes or no answer. They will then take it upon themselves to do it and then claim that they thought you wanted it done.
As was the care here, the work will be done while there is no one around to tell them not to. Then then you are presented the bill fait accompli. If you balk at paying it they’ll try various combinations of guilt trip, threats, and bargaining to get your money.
Paying them anything validates the practice. I’d stick to not paying on the grounds that you never agreed to the service.
Ah well if you said it like that it should have been clear… when you said “tortured Spanish” I was expecting something a little more mangled that maybe they interpreted as “Hey boss, she said she wants us to do the job!”