{"id":897226,"date":"2020-03-23T15:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T21:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897226"},"modified":"2020-03-24T15:23:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T21:23:47","slug":"georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/","title":{"rendered":"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kevin Levy | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saul.com\/blogs\/construction-industry-counselor\/builders-beware-georgia-court-rejects-suit-unlicensed\">Saul Ewing Arnstein &amp; Lehr<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlicensed contractors in Georgia recently were dealt a blow by the state&#8217;s Court of Appeals when three judges held that a contractor&#8217;s failure to possess a valid state contractor&#8217;s license precluded the contractor from bringing a lawsuit for unpaid fees. In&nbsp;<em>Fleetwood v. Lucas<\/em>, __ S.E.2d __, 2020 WL 1149734 (Ga. Ct. App. March 10, 2020), a panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation work on two properties, because the contractor was not properly licensed by the state government. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Property owners hired the contractor to perform renovations and improvements at a home and a commercial property in excess of $100,000. During the work, the contractor informed the property owners that the project was over budget by about $10,000. The property owners responded by stopping payments. The contractor subsequently filed a lawsuit against the property owners for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The property owners argued in a motion for summary judgment and a motion for a directed verdict during trial that a state law prohibited courts from enforcing a contract or an equitable claim (such as quantum meruit or unjust enrichment) for the benefit of an unlicensed contractor if the underlying work required a state license.&nbsp;<em>See&nbsp;<\/em>Ga. Code Ann. \u00a7 43-41-17(b). The trial judge rejected the property owners\u2019 motions, and a jury awarded damages to the contractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Appellate Court reversed. Focusing almost entirely on the Georgia general residential and contracting statute, Ga. Code Ann. \u00a7 43-41-1&nbsp;<em>et seq.<\/em>, the panel of judges held that the fact the contractor did not hold a valid state license was fatal to the contractor\u2019s breach of contract and equitable quantum meruit claims. Importantly, the contractor might have been able to recover if he had disclosed his lack of a license to the property owner before the project. However, the contractor testified at trial that he never previously disclosed his lack of a license.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like most states, Georgia requires professionals performing residential or general contracting work to be licensed as part of an effort to \u201csafeguard homeowners, other property owners, tenants, and the general public against faulty, inadequate, inefficient, and unsafe residential and general contractors.\u201d Ga. Code Ann. \u00a7 43-41-1. Contractors should take care to follow applicable state laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin Levy | Saul Ewing Arnstein &amp; Lehr Unlicensed contractors in Georgia recently were dealt a blow by the state&#8217;s Court of Appeals when three judges held that a contractor&#8217;s failure to possess a valid state contractor&#8217;s license precluded the contractor from bringing a lawsuit for unpaid fees. In&nbsp;Fleetwood v. Lucas, __ S.E.2d __, 2020&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[9895,420,9130,10367],"class_list":["post-897226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-georgia","tag-unlicensed-contractors","tag-unpaid-wages","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\"},\"wordCount\":397,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"Georgia\",\"Unlicensed Contractors\",\"Unpaid Wages\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\",\"name\":\"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work","datePublished":"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/"},"wordCount":397,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise &amp; Consult","Georgia","Unlicensed Contractors","Unpaid Wages"],"articleSection":["Construction"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/","name":"Builders Beware: Georgia Court Rejects Suit by Unlicensed Contractor for Unpaid Work - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-03-23T21:05:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-24T21:23:47+00:00","description":"panel of judges ruled against a contractor, who completed extensive repair and renovation, because the contractor was not properly licensed","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-rejects-suit-unlicensed-contractor\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3Lpo","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":897227,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897226\/revisions\/897227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}