Consumer Law, Warranties DJ Service Provided with verbal agreement/Do I have a case?

[DonVito]

I made the mistake to not have a written contract this time around since I thought I knew the lady that I provided this service for. I had provided dj service for her before with a written contract and was paid the $400 fee. This time however it was only done verbally between her and I. We agreed on a fee of $400 again. However she never paid me. I called her work and cell numerous times but she keeps ignoring my calls and voicemails. She owns a fairly large mortgage company and the party that I Djed for was for her employees. The party was over two months ago and everything was fine. People were very happy with the music and the lady told me to call her the following monday so she can send me a check. I'm not sure what to do at this point to get my hard earned money. Do I have a case?

 

[NYClex]

Well, that doesn't sound too bad. Oral contracts in most cases are as valid as written ones, the problem usually is with proving that there has been one. But under certain circumstances the law is pretty helpful.

First of all one can point to the fact that one did perform.
If the other party does not object it can be implied that she agrees. If one performed before and was paid for it, the other party should have contemplated that one wants to be paid this time, as well. That is pretty important, because even if a court would hold that there was no valid contract, it probably would find that there was an implied contract, a quasi-contract as it is called, and therefore that one deserves payment.
If one had been paid a certain amount before, it will be reasonable to assume that one's service this time was for the same amount, too, this is called evidence of prior dealings.

One probably could sue in small claims court.

Of course, as always, this is an off the cuff answer. There might be details that we are not aware here that might change things. This answer cannot substitute competent legal advise.