Consumer Law, Warranties breach of contract, lost profit

[mikeymac]

I was hired by a local lodge organization in Kansas to remodel a building they bought. Their appointed building committee approved my estimate and floor plan, signed my contract and gave me a $15000 downpayment (1/3 of total). I ordered in materials and began work on the project. A week went by and two "brothers" (lodge members) came to the building and told me that work had to stop because some by-law of their lodge was broken by the building committee. Apparently, a handful of "brothers" didn't like our floor plan and wanted to do the work themselves along with some friends. So they dug up this by-law about having meetings under the third degree, whatever that means, and they claim the by-law was broken by the committee, so our contract was void and they wanted the money back. I have been told by an attorney that their by-laws don't mean a thing in a court of law and I have a legal and binding contract. By not allowing me to complete the work, they have breached the contract and I am entitled to payment for work completed, lost profit (profit I would have received had I been allowed to complete the work) and lost time dealing with the situation. These all actually total to about $18000, but I was willing to call it even with the $15000 I had already received. The "brothers" disagree, especially with the lost profit and lost time, and they want their money back. Am I entitled to this money? Is there some legal documentation that I can present to them to prove I am entitled to the lost profit and lost time? By the way, the lodge master that signed our contract resigned because of all this and the lodge secretary that signed our check is now the master and he feels so bad about this he even sent us a written apology for what the brothers are doing. Please help.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I was hired by a local lodge organization in Kansas to remodel a building they bought. Their appointed building committee approved my estimate and floor plan, signed my contract and gave me a $15000 downpayment (1/3 of total). I ordered in materials and began work on the project. A week went by and two "brothers" (lodge members) came to the building and told me that work had to stop because some by-law of their lodge was broken by the building committee. Apparently, a handful of "brothers" didn't like our floor plan and wanted to do the work themselves along with some friends. So they dug up this by-law about having meetings under the third degree, whatever that means, and they claim the by-law was broken by the committee, so our contract was void and they wanted the money back. I have been told by an attorney that their by-laws don't mean a thing in a court of law and I have a legal and binding contract. By not allowing me to complete the work, they have breached the contract and I am entitled to payment for work completed, lost profit (profit I would have received had I been allowed to complete the work) and lost time dealing with the situation. These all actually total to about $18000, but I was willing to call it even with the $15000 I had already received. The "brothers" disagree, especially with the lost profit and lost time, and they want their money back. Am I entitled to this money? Is there some legal documentation that I can present to them to prove I am entitled to the lost profit and lost time? By the way, the lodge master that signed our contract resigned because of all this and the lodge secretary that signed our check is now the master and he feels so bad about this he even sent us a written apology for what the brothers are doing. Please help.

Your attorney is right and your brothers are wrong. Here is the bottom line: As long as someone with authority from the lodge to sign a contract signs, it doesn't matter what problems they may have within -- except for one item which is not applicable. That exception would be whether you knew that the signer did not have the authority to sign the project and that this person couldn't "bind" the lodge. But here there was no reason to believe the person who signed for the lodge could not, the lodge knew and had the benefit of your work which shows that they "ratified" any agreement, basically a "confirmation" and the lodge hasn't a leg to sign on.

Good luck in getting your money which you deserve. Let us know what happens... hopefully cooler heads will prevail.