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[devon]

For the last few months, my 4 year old son has been attending a daycare. About a week ago, we were notified by a parent of another child that attended the daycare that she suspected the owner of neglecting the children and that upon a search she found the provider was not license and did not even have a registered business with the state. We promptly removed our son from daycare and we simply refuse to pay the $200 bill for services we were lied to about. The daycare 'owner' is now threatening to take us to court over the matter. Seems like a small amount to even be taking someone to small claims court over but nonetheless... Can she win if she doesn't even own a real business and is not a licensed child care provider? Does she have any legal recourse at all?

[tai38]

If your 18 year old teenage neighbor can sue you for unpaid babysitting fees...why can't this daycare? What is the LEGAL difference? They provided a service and you must LEGALLY pay for it. You did the right thing regarding taking the kid out ASAP, but how does the fact of the matter affect services ALREADY tendered? What would be different NOW if they were licensed in the past or not??? This is a slam dunk win for the daycare.

Edit:
No offense taken, but THE LAW says she can sue you. You had a contract and you breached it....end of story. Services were provided to you and you MUST legally pay for them. The place being unlicensed DOES NOT entitle you to free daycare in any way. Your kid was watched....you have to pay. If you are unhappy with the quality of the care or the status of the business, then you stop using their services and pay for those services provided. Its like eating an entire steak dinner and then trying to get out of paying by saying it wasn't cooked to your liking. The 18 year old wasn't in your questions...I was merely pointing out that if an "unlicensed" 18 year old has the legal ability to sue you (and yes they clearly have that ability) it makes no difference that the daycare was unlicensed in bringing a suit against you. There is no law that says only licensed and/or registered businesses are able to bring civil suits. In fact, the VAST majority of civil cases are between unlicensed individuals.
As for the LLC issue......how do you know for a fact that the LLC was not incorporated in another state? There are no laws that say a business MUST be incorporated in the state in which they do business in. You would be AMAZED at the number of businesses incorporated in Deleware and Nevada that do ZERO business in those state!

[donough]

You do not have to be licensed in order to care for children nor register a business. You do have to report earnings. Did she represent that she was in fact a licensed daycare? If not she did not misrepresent herself & as such you would have no recourse or cause to withhold payment for services rendered. You may be able to withhold payment if she represented herself as licensed. You would need proof though, as in something like a written statement of something from her that says she is. Did you get any paperwork when you enrolled your child? Did you sign any contracts? If you did, look there first. She most certainly can sue you & filing with small claims court isn't hard or expensive. Whether she will go through with it or not is a different thing. Many people threaten many things they never actually take the time & effort to do. If she did file & you lost, the worst that could happen is you end up having to pay what she is due and your court costs, so it's up to you if think she is serious & if you want to take that chance.