F
Falula
Guest
I am in California. I did a Web site for a friend's company. Because he only worked for the company, he suggested I put together a contract for him to sign so that if he left, I could still get paid for my services by the owner. On the contract, I called myself "top ten designs." The payment schedule showed the first payment to be received at the beginning of January and the final payment to be received on January 31, 2000. I had worked with my friend on the site design - it took longer than I anticipated, but my friend assured me that we were ok as long as the site was up by the Spring. In February of that year, my friend told me that the owner wanted his new logo incorporated into the site design. We did that and sent the text off for a final approval from the owner. That never came. My friend did in fact leave the company and now I am having problems getting the remainder of the money from the owner. He decided not to get back to me about the text and has since decided that he does not want to use the site. In his mind, since he's not using it, he doesn't have to pay for it. He paid the first payment in May and wrote the check to me personally, not "top ten designs." He is now claiming that I defaulted on my original contract because the payment schedule implied that all work would be complete by January 31. He paid me in May so he obviously did not come up with that excuse until recently. I tried to contact him via phone calls and e-mail, but never received a response or any returned phone calls.
I am planning on taking him to court to recover the rest of the money, but my questions are these:
- Since we were working with a representative of his company, isn't he obligated to pay the amount stated in the contract?
- I do not have a business license. Will I get myself into more trouble if I pursue legal action? For something like this, where I was an independent contractor, do I need a business license? By calling myself "top ten designs" on the contract, did I somehow imply that I was a business? The check was written to me personally though...
- Did the payment schedule in fact imply that all work would be complete by then? Since he wanted something new to be done to our designs in February, wasn't it understood that we were still working on it in February and therefore there was a mutual understanding that the schedule had changed?
If there are any lawyers out there I would love some advice.
Thanks!
I am planning on taking him to court to recover the rest of the money, but my questions are these:
- Since we were working with a representative of his company, isn't he obligated to pay the amount stated in the contract?
- I do not have a business license. Will I get myself into more trouble if I pursue legal action? For something like this, where I was an independent contractor, do I need a business license? By calling myself "top ten designs" on the contract, did I somehow imply that I was a business? The check was written to me personally though...
- Did the payment schedule in fact imply that all work would be complete by then? Since he wanted something new to be done to our designs in February, wasn't it understood that we were still working on it in February and therefore there was a mutual understanding that the schedule had changed?
If there are any lawyers out there I would love some advice.
Thanks!