I'm in a real life nightmare--
my landscape contractor halfway into the project stopped coming to the job, stopped responding to all calls/texts/emails and now has notified me he filed for bankruptcy and won't be completing my project.
Totally out of the blue. A day before he pulled his crew off my jobsite, he was talking to me about next steps, ordering plants, like everything was normal. He came highly recommended by my landscape designer and had glowing recommendations from previous clients. Never had an inkling that this was coming.
As naive homeowners doing our first big landscaping project, we had agreed to a payment schedule that was somewhat front loaded for the hardscape. So we've paid about 90k so far when he's probably completed about 2/3 of the value that stuff. Stupid me--now I've learned my lesson.
Has anyone ever had a similar experience, hired a lawyer and successfully sued for damages and money back on incomplete work? Any recommendations for good attorney that handles stuff like this?
Also, does anyone know how I can verify (as a layperson) whether he actually did file for bankruptcy and has legal protection from creditors, or is he just saying that, hoping that I won't pursue him further?
Thanks.
my landscape contractor halfway into the project stopped coming to the job, stopped responding to all calls/texts/emails and now has notified me he filed for bankruptcy and won't be completing my project.
Totally out of the blue. A day before he pulled his crew off my jobsite, he was talking to me about next steps, ordering plants, like everything was normal. He came highly recommended by my landscape designer and had glowing recommendations from previous clients. Never had an inkling that this was coming.
As naive homeowners doing our first big landscaping project, we had agreed to a payment schedule that was somewhat front loaded for the hardscape. So we've paid about 90k so far when he's probably completed about 2/3 of the value that stuff. Stupid me--now I've learned my lesson.
Has anyone ever had a similar experience, hired a lawyer and successfully sued for damages and money back on incomplete work? Any recommendations for good attorney that handles stuff like this?
Also, does anyone know how I can verify (as a layperson) whether he actually did file for bankruptcy and has legal protection from creditors, or is he just saying that, hoping that I won't pursue him further?
Thanks.