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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Electric Man, Inc. v. Charos, 179 Vt. 351 (2006)

Citation
Electric Man, Inc. v. Charos, 179 Vt. 351 (2006)
Parent Document
Electric Man, Inc. v. Charos, 179 Vt. 351 (2006)
Jurisdiction
Vermont (state)
Effective Date
2006-02-10

Full Text

1,062 chars
¶ 8. Although the jury separated its verdict into three components in response to the jury charge and interrogatories, it had substantial flexibility in how it labeled the award, especially because the contract between contractor and owners was oral, with little specificity in its terms. Under the prompt payment act, the contractor is entitled to submit periodic invoices to the owner for progress payments, and the owner must pay invoices within twenty days. 9 V.S.A. § 4002(b), (c). Contractor claimed that his lawyer’s letter of January 2002 was an invoice under the statute, and it sought a progress payment covering both labor and materials. Under the jury charge, the labor component could be covered in the verdict as breach-of-contract damages, damages for failure to make prompt payment on the invoice, or both. The materials component could be covered under breach of contract, failure to make prompt payment, or conversion. Only contractor’s claim that owners kept some of his tools and equipment could not fit easily under the prompt-payment count.