Assignment task:
Small Claims Court: The Kitchen Renovation Case
Question - Draft a opening statement for court trial on the given case Below. Address the issues. You're representing defendant. the plaintiff is bald wins and defendants is Tina and her husband. Drafting an opening statement for the defendant
Tina Fey and her husband, Tommy, hired Baldwin Brothers Construction to make some minor renovations to the kitchen in their home for a total contract price of $7,500. The work is now completed, but the Feys and the Baldwins have a dis- agreement about payment for the installation of three pot lights. Tina and Tommy claim that the contract price included the installation of all necessary lights in the kitchen. Baldwin Brothers Construction, on the other hand, claims that the contract required them to install five pot lights only, and that three additional pot lights were installed at Tommy's request as an extra to be paid for separately. Tina and Tommy have paid the original contract price but refuse to pay more.
The parties cannot resolve this disagreement, so Baldwin Brothers Construction has started a Small Claims Court action claiming $750 for the cost of supplying and installing the three disputed pot lights.
At the trial of this case, the judge must decide whether to grant judgment to the plaintiff, Baldwin Brothers Construction (Alec Baldwin and Stephen Baldwin, carrying on business as Baldwin Brothers Construction), for the $750. The first part of the decision-making process is to determine what, exactly, the parties agreed to.
Of course, the judge was not present when the contract was entered into, so they must make this decision based on the evidence presented by the parties in court.
As often happens, the parties in this case did not have a written contract. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin were the only people present when the oral contract was made, and they each have a very different understanding of what they agreed to.