Theft of Services in Virginia

I made a menu board for someone who I used to work for - I offered to do it for her and she agreed and even gave me the blackboard to paint on. I completed it over 4 weeks ago and have been waiting for her to come and look at it so that she can approve it and tell me how much she would be willing to pay for it. We made several appointments and she never showed up to look at it or pick it up. :mad: Now, she wants the blackboard back without ever even looking at what I painted (she said she wants me to paint black over what I painted). :confused:

I didn't set a price for the work I've done (I said I'd leave it up to her) but I told her artists typically get paid $11/hour for this kind of work and I spent over 30 hours working on this and she wants me to erase what I did - presumably, she doesn't want to pay me for the work I've done! :mad: My question is, if she refuses to pay me for my time & effort can I charge her with Theft of Services? I am in Virginia and would really appreciate if you could let me know what the law says about its (I tried looking it up but cannot find it :( )

This is a civil suit... not a criminal one.

Therefore, you would seek restitution through civil court. In this case, that means small claims court.

This si what I finally dug up from the Code of Virginia:

§ 18.2-116. Failure to pay for or return goods delivered for selection or approval.

If any person shall solicit and obtain from any merchant any goods, wares or merchandise for examination or approval, and shall thereafter, upon written demand, refuse or fail to return the same to such merchant in unused condition, or to pay for the same, such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of the larceny thereof. But the provisions of this section shall not apply unless such written demand be made within five days after delivery, and unless the goods, wares or merchandise shall have attached to them or to the package in which they are contained a label, card or tag containing the words, "Delivered for selection or approval."

(Code 1950, § 18.1-117; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)

Is this not applicable to my case? Isn't my service considered a "good"?

Actually the painting is what should be considered the "good" in this case right?

The painting would be considered a good.

However, its value is a civil matter.

This is typical of somebody who enters into a business transaction but fails to communicate, and fails to enter into a formal contract. You and your ex-employer had a discussion of your painting a menu board at $11/hour. Your employer is almost certainly thinking, "Cool. I'll get a nice new menu board for $20 or $30." Then you trot off, spend 30 hours on it, and are surprised when she isn't interested in paying ten times what she expected.

I've seen this happen so many times, I've lost count.

If you want to be in business doing work of this sort, you have to make your customer aware of not just your hourly rate, but how many hours you intend to work. If you fail to communicate that and shock your client with a huge bill, you're almost certain not to get paid (and if you do, it will be the last time the client sends you work and you run the risk that they'll describe what happened to all their friends and business colleagues in very unflattering terms.)

If I were you I would apologize to your former employer for shocking them with such a high price, let them make an offer for what they're willing to pay for your work, accept it with a smile, and engage in better communication in the future. You're free to return a blank chalkboard. You're free to try to sue in small claims court, but unless you can prove a meeting of the minds I expect you'll lose (or mostly lose, if the small claims court brokers an exchange of the completed board for what your ex-employer thought it would be paying). But admittedly, I'm not a psychic, and that's just my opinion of what will happen in court.