Can I sue for legal fees if a contractor did poor work?
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Can I sue for legal fees if a contractor did poor work?
I had a parking area paved recently and within a year it was ruined. There are dips, waves, and cracks along the entire area. The person who laid the gravel blames the one who did the pavement and vice versa. It seems the only way to get the job done again and correctly is to sue one of them. In this type of case is it possible to make them pay for the entire court costs?
Asked on October 27, 2011 under Business Law, Mississippi
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Whether or not you are entitled to legal fees concerning the dispute over poor paving depends first upon whether you can demonstrate that the person who did the work failed to do it properly, and if that is established, you will need to prove what the costs of the repairs would be.
Assuming you prove the above, whether or not you are entitled to attorneys fees as the prevailing party depends upon whether there is a written contract concerning the work you are complaining about containing an attorneys fee clause or if there is a statute allowing for attorneys fees concerning the substance of your dispute to the prevailing party. Most likely there is no statute allowing such fees based upon my experience in such cases.
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