What can I do about the breach of a verbal contract?
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What can I do about the breach of a verbal contract?
I am a voice-over actress and worked on a particular account for 3 years up until about a year ago; then had no contact from this client for over a year until one day he contacted out of the blue 5 months ago. He offered me work but I declined the work due to my time constraints. Then, last month, he contacted me again to see if I could do the job and offered to pay me whatever would make me happy for the project. I quoted a price and he agreed to it. I did the job for him 3 weeks ago but now he is refusing to pay the new rate that we agreed upon. He said that he will only pay me the old rate which is significantly lower.
Asked on May 28, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, Indiana
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
You can sue him: a verbal (or as it's more-accurately known, oral) contract is enforceable, so you can sue him for breach of contract to get the full amount of money. The main problem with an oral contract, of course, is proof--proving what the terms of the contract were, if you and the other party to the contract disagree or testify oppositely each other. It may come down to who is more credible or believable. In this, you will have a problem: since he can show the rate you used to work at, it is inherently plausible that was the rate for this work. It may be difficult to convince a court otherwise, without any documentation.
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