After two years of litigation, Mackey Law Group just attained another favorable verdict; this time for an Anna Maria Island general contractor!
The wealthy beachfront homeowner refused to pay for the last draw on the remodeling contract and then spent over $200,000 in attorney’s fees (far more than what was owed to the contractor) in an attempt to break our general contractor client.
The homeowner had three local lawyers manning his side of the case. These lawyers went to great lengths to attempt to pull out a victory; among other things these opposing lawyers and the homeowner: (i) went to the local papers, repeatedly placing our general contractor client in a bad light and stating how confident they were in their case; (ii) took discovery, obtained from our general contractor client during the case, and went to the City of Anna Maria and involved many other families in the dispute in an effort to gain an advantage; (iii) even solicited past customers of our general contractor client in an attempt to get our client’s past customers to testify against our client; and (iv) repeatedly stated that they were “going to put your client out of business”.
Despite all of the above, Mackey Law Group’s lawyers hung in there with the general contractor during this exhausting and very expensive two-year process. No matter how much money an opponent can throw at a case and no matter how down and dirty other lawyers can be, the truth usually prevails if you have the right lawyers on your side. The general contractor obtained a verdict in its favor and the principals of the general contracting company also obtained verdicts as well, in defense of the personal claims made by the homeowner. Most importantly, Mackey Law Group positioned the general contractor to not only win; but, to now be able to proceed to get the general contractor all of its attorney’s fees and costs that the homeowner forced the general contractor to spend in pursuing payment for the work it did.
If you are a contractor facing a non-paying client who has a lot of money and has “lawyered-up”, don’t be intimidated. Hire an experienced construction attorney and stick to your guns. Victory can be yours.
By: Peter J. Mackey, Esq.
