An account stated.

Practice point: An account stated is an agreement between parties to an account based upon prior transactions between them with respect to the correctness of the account items and balance due.  An agreement may be implied where a defendant retains bills without objecting to them within a reasonable period of time or makes partial payment on the account.

Student note: Here, the affidavit of the plaintiff's project manager stated that, when the defendant was contacted about payment, she stated that she never authorized the plaintiff to do work in her home and did not intend to pay the plaintiff. In addition, the plaintiff's project manager averred that "not even a single payment was ever received," even though the defendant had been billed for the plaintiff's services. These submissions were insufficient to establish, as a matter of law, that the defendant retained the subject invoices for an unreasonable period of time without objecting to them, or that she made partial payment on the invoices.

Case: Branch Servs., Inc. v. Cooper, NY Slip Op 00058 (2d Dept. 2013).

Here is the decision.

Tuesday’s issue: Slips and falls.