verbal agreement with friend mating dogs

[shellkd04]

We just mated ourmale pug with a friend of ours. Our verbal agreement was to either get first pick of litter, pay up to $500.00 in vet bills and split the proceeds 50/50 from the sale of puppies. Or if we did not take a puppy then we would split everything 50/50. Now that her female is pregnant she sent us an email saying that she was changing it because she didn't realize how much work it would be on her end. She gave us an ultimatum saying she would'nt register the puppies and we get nothing or she would give us $500.00 for our dogs registration papers. We have since learned that she is now passing her other male pug ,who she told us at the time was only 5 months old , off as the father. We provided a stud service and she thinks she can tell us what she is going to give us when she is the one that changed the agreement all together. We in turn told her that because she changed the agreement we would charge her $750.00 for a stud fee and turn over our dogs registration papers. We have gotten no response from her. What do we do from hear? All of our correspondences have been through email after her female became pregnant. We have actully caught her in a few lies.

 

[mafioso]

You have to keep and document all your evidence such as the emails, and other people who witnessed the verbal agreement if any. It is good she admits to changing the agreement. That would help if it goes to court. An agreement verbal or written is valid provided there are credible witnesses or if both parties agree to what the original terms where. If she is changing her mind because of the work load, she should never have signed or agreed without knowledge of what the work entails. So that is her fault if she did not do her research. She has no right to change everything unilaterally now because she is in possession of the pets and has technical ownership. Keep trying to negotiate. If you are not happy with the outcome, you could sue in small claims. You would win judgment even if she sells all…….. She would owe you the value of what the judge feels is appropriate including filling fees.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Put your case together before going to small claims court. Mafioso is correct but you don't necessarily need the witnesses although they help. In this instance you have written correspondence and you should get a copy of your phone bills that show calls made to this person. These records of a third party validate the communication to the artbitrator. I don't know if you could put a "lien" on the puppies after obtaining a judgment, especially in small claims court. (I confess that I'm only starting to learn more about pet law since all my non-legal friends keep asking me about them since the Michael Vick case. It was just like OJ years ago.) But at least if you get a judgment you can also help warn others whom this person is working with as to the situation. Good luck.