Does She Have to Sing?

[DinaLina]

My counsin lives in Florida and agreed to sing (she's a children's entertainer) for some groups. The company that organized her tour promised her a percentage of the tickets, and gave her a compensation range to expect. She has to take off work to do the performances, but agreed based on the amount. Her first gig barely paid her gas (way below the expected amount) so she said she wouldn't do more. She got a letter from a lawyer for breach of contract. She did sign a letter that said if she failed to show up she might be held liable for expenses but she called ahead to say that she wanted to cancel based on the earlier result. I feel bad because I encouraged her not to go because it seemed like they were making her work for no money, not the amounts they told her she would make. She's not a famous performer so she could be replaced. Help! Did I give her bad advice? What should she do? She has no money this is why she tried this out in the first place.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[CraigFL]

It sounds like it's all in the contract which she agreed to and signed. She decided to take a percentage and not a fixed fee. Now she has to do it or be sued for non-performance.

 

[DinaLina]

Thanks, but a clarification

Thank you very much for your answer! To clarify, they indicated a range of income in their promotional materials that she should expect, so she signed based on that information. So if she can somehow show that they don't have a track record of selling that amount of tickets, could she defend based on sort of a "bait and switch"? She entered into the contract based on their promise to earn a certain amount. It seems like they did not hold up their end. PS she had to invest a lot of her own prep time and money to create publicity materials for them, demo etc. at their request.

 

[Zigner]

Thank you very much for your answer! To clarify, they indicated a range of income in their promotional materials that she should expect, so she signed based on that information. So if she can somehow show that they don't have a track record of selling that amount of tickets, could she defend based on sort of a "bait and switch"? She entered into the contract based on their promise to earn a certain amount. It seems like they did not hold up their end. PS she had to invest a lot of her own prep time and money to create publicity materials for them, demo etc. at their request.

The answer doesn't change. Furthermore, I am SURE the contract mentioned that the "range" was not a "guarantee"...but I don't know since I haven't seen the contract. But I bet you haven't either

 

[DinaLina]

maybe it wasn't a formal contract?

Hi again - thanks for advising. I didn't see the contract but I called her. She was very upset and crying because she tried to deal fairly with them. She said that she signed a letter that said she was an independent contractor and the liabilty part was in the small print. She said she gave them a lot of advance notice but they didn't go after her until after she didn't show up - if she had known she would have taken the loss. She showed it to a friend who is an attorney in a different law field and she said it wasn't countersigned and didn't specify dates on the paper she signed so she wouldn't worry too much but she thinks she should write back. But, my cousin (who is 20 without a lot of resources) is afraid that if she writes back she might say the wrong wording and get in more trouble. So far it's a very threatening letter from them but she hasn't been formally sued, I wasn't sure of that until now. I told her she should get a lawyer but is there any hope that she might have a case? She sounded like she might give up and end up paying a lot of money to people who were trying to rip her off to begin with. I think they took advantage of her inexperience.

 

[Zigner]

So, she even acknowledges that she agreed to the terms. I'll bet that the copy they have has any required signatures...

Based solely on the (limited) information you have presented, she is liable for her breach of the contract

 

[Zigner]

Let's look at it another way. If her share had turned out to be double what she was told the "range" was, would she agree that she isn't entitled to the excess? I think not.

 

[DinaLina]

the infamous letter

Hi again. She says the letter didn't have a place for any signature other than her own, and she has a copy. She wonders if it is valid because it doesn't specifically say that she agrees to the terms - just that she understands that and acknowledges that she is an independent contractor. She did ask if they would consider paying her a little more considering that she has to take time off work but they wouldn't meet her halfway. And it looks like AFTER she said she couldn't afford to work for them they went ahead ran up some bogus charges like ordering catering for the event (not done at every event) even though they had heard at that point hardly any tickets has been sold. She thinks it was just the people who run the company inviting a bunch of their friends and relatives to go over and eat for free and then sue her for the cost because they usually don't do refreshments unless there's a big crowd and only for certain types of events. Plus from the conversations she had it seems like on one hand they were telling her that she was going to make a lot of money, then when she said she would lose money by taking off hours they got really nasty with her almost if they were setting her up to quit.

I would have her write here directly but she is honestly terrified and I haven't given her your response yet because I'm hoping that she may find a way out of this. She is a good hardworking girl, just a little naive.