Victoria A. Feyre-Febonio vs. Helen Thelen, March 17, 2010
Remodeling Work, Denial of Motion for Directed Verdict
Facts
Victoria Febonio moved to the pioneer valley with her young child and wanted buy a home. Helen Thelen was the mother of a playmate of Febonio’s child and was also a real estate agent. They entered into a deal whereby Febonio would do some painting for Thelen, and in return she would appraise real estate for Febonio. Eventually, Thelen wanted Febonio to remodel a bathroom in her basement and Febonio began work and completed the job in bits and pieces to accommodate Thelen’s cash flow. When the job was done, Febonio sent Thelen the bill for $1700, and when the bill went unpaid she brought a small-claims action against Thelen, who then removed the case to the civil docket, filed counterclaims, and requested a jury trial.
The jury dismissed Thelen’s counter claim, and awarded Febonio $2500. Thelen appealed the denial of her motion for a directed verdict and denial of her motion for post-trial relief. The Appellate Division affirmed the decisions.
Thelen attempted to get out of the contract by citing G.L.c. 142A §9, which requires all contractors who perform residential services to be licensed. The court rejected the idea that this rendered the agreement void, and that it might be at best voidable. The court looked at the note stating that an agreement should not be rendered void just because it doesn’t conform to the statute. The denial of Thelen’s motion for directed verdict was justified because she failed to show how the public interest would be better served in this case by enforcing licensing requirements resulting in forfeiture, especially in a case where the forfeiture favors an undeserving and equally culpable defendant.
Denial of Post-trial relief
The Appellate Division also noted that there was no error in refusing to alter the jury award down to either one dollar or $1700 dollars, because the figure the jury awarded reflected at least what was owed to the defendant. Although it is 50% more than the damages shown by Febonio; in actual dollar figures it is only $800 more, and thus was not so unreasonable that the judge had to reduce the award.-Prepared by AEK
