A signed service contract and 3 unpaid invoices totalling $9,200 sit in a folder on the desk of a sole proprietor who operates a small landscaping and property maintenance business in a mid-sized Canadian city. The contract, executed 14 months earlier, engaged the business to provide seasonal grounds maintenance for a commercial property owner who operates a strip mall with 8 retail tenants. The work proceeded without incident through the spring and summer months, with the landscaping business completing all contracted services including lawn care, garden bed maintenance, parking lot sweeping, and snow removal preparation. The property owner paid the first 4 monthly invoices on time but stopped responding to correspondence after the 5th invoice was submitted in early autumn.
The outstanding amount reflects 3 months of completed work at $2,400 per month, plus $2,000 in additional charges for emergency tree removal following a windstorm, which the property owner had verbally authorized by telephone. The sole proprietor possesses the signed contract, photographs documenting the completed work, copies of all invoices bearing date stamps, and text messages in which the property owner acknowledged receipt of services and promised payment was forthcoming. A final demand letter sent by registered mail 45 days ago went unanswered.
The property owner has since engaged a different landscaping company and, in recent correspondence through a lawyer retained for the matter, has taken the position that the work was substandard and that the verbal authorization for tree removal was never given. The lawyer's letter also raises a counterclaim alleging $4,500 in damages for incomplete fall cleanup that purportedly required remediation by the replacement contractor.
The sole proprietor, who has operated the landscaping business for 7 years and employs 2 seasonal workers, has never been involved in litigation and has no legal training. The monetary jurisdiction of the local small claims court encompasses the amounts in dispute. The proprietor must now determine how to file a claim, serve the property owner, respond to the threatened counterclaim, organize the available evidence for presentation, prepare for a hearing at which the opposing party will likely be represented by counsel, and understand what steps might follow whatever decision the court renders. The business cannot afford to retain a lawyer for a dispute of this size, and the proprietor intends to proceed as a self-represented litigant through whatever process lies ahead.