2019 QCCQ 6407, 2019 QCCQ 6407

Jensen c. Barrett 2019 QCCQ 6407 COURT OF QUEBEC “ Small Claims Division “ CANADA PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DISTRICT OF MONTRÉAL “ Civil Division “ No: 500-32-703642-175 DATE: October 1, 2019 ______________________________________________________________________ BY THE HONOURABLE VINCENZO PIAZZA, J.C.Q. ______________________________________________________________________ CARMEN JENSEN Plaintiff v. WILLIAM BARRETT Defendant ______________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT ______________________________________________________________________ [ 1 ] On December 3, 2016, Mr.

Barrett hired Ms. Jensen to provide graphic design services for a book project that he was working on. This took place via email exchanges between the parties, wherein Mr. Barrett accepted Ms. Jensen’s fee proposal, outlining an hourly rate of $50, and an estimate between $3,000 and $3,500 for “template and cover design, initial typesetting, corrections and revisions to text (client’s changes)” including “a reasonable amount of further changes and meetings”. [ 2 ] Ms. Jensen worked 26.5 hours in December 2016, 29.25 hours in January and 18.75 hours in March 2017, for a total of 74.5 hours spent on Mr.

Barrett’s project. [ 3 ] She issued a first invoice, for her work in December 2016, in the amount of $1,325, which was quickly paid by Mr. Barrett. A second invoice, for January 2017, in the amount of $1,462.50 was issued around January 25, 2017. This invoice was paid by Mr. Barrett in March 2017, further to details he had sought on Ms. Jensen’s work. [ 4 ] On March 13, 2017, Mr. Barrett sent Ms. Jensen 164 re-scanned photographs and 331 new ones. On March 16, the parties revised a printed proof of the book. Mr. Barrett made several edits. On March 20, he sent Ms.

Jensen 14 new images to be inserted in the book. [ 5 ] On March 22, Mr. Barrett advised Ms. Jensen to stop all her work. The parties never resumed their contractual relationship, which ended as of that date. [ 6 ] Ms. Jensen is claiming payment of the balance of her fees as at March 22, 2017, which amounts to $937.50. [ 7 ] Mr. Barrett invokes the poor quality of Ms. Jensen’s work. He avers that she was extremely slow, inefficient and that her charges were excessive compared with other suppliers he later dealt with for similar services. He testifies that he obtained better results than those provided by Ms.

Jensen, for less than $100, within 24 hours. ANALYSIS [ 8 ] The agreement between the parties is defined as follows by the Civil Code of Quebec : 2098 . A contract of enterprise or for services is a contract by which a person, the contractor or the provider of services, as the case may be, undertakes to another person, the client, to carry out physical or intellectual work or to supply a service, for a price which the client binds himself to pay to him. [ 9 ] Such a contract may be terminated by the client, at his discretion [1] .

In such a case, “ the client is bound to pay to the contractor or the provider of services, in proportion to the agreed price, the actual costs and expenses, the value of the work performed before the end of the contract or before the notice of resiliation and, as the case may be, the value of the property supplied, where it can be put into his hands and used by him” [2] . [ 10 ] Ms. Jensen has established on a balance of probabilities that she has worked the hours for which she billed Mr. Barrett.

She has also demonstrated, be it only by reference to her first two invoices, which were paid without protest, that her hourly rate of $50 was effectively agreed to and that Mr. Barrett had no issue with her work. [ 11 ] Mr. Barrett has not proved that the rates he got from his new supplier, who works out of India, is a preferable measure of “the value of the work” provided by Ms. Jensen to that of the hourly rate accepted by the parties upon entering into the contract and in the course of its performance. FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT:

GRANTS the action, in part; CONDEMNS William Barrett to pay $937.50 to Carmen Jensen, with interest at the legal rate and the additional indemnity provided by

article 1619 of the Civil Code of Quebec , to accrue from November 20, 2017, with costs in the amount of $100. __________________________________ VINCENZO PIAZZA, J.C.Q. Date of hearing: September 30, 2019