CA
I'll try to be as descriptive as possible without taking too much time. Feel free to let me know if I need to give you guys more info.
I emailed a hotel in thailand about shooting a wedding for free for them. We had a trade. That I would shoot the wedding and they would give me two room nights for their rights usage of the images. Here was the agreement.
I specifically stated in the email that I would give their client the images the day of the wedding on disc, take the images home, work on them and give those worked on images to the hotel. I would then offer those worked on images to their client if they wanted to purchase the PP'd ones.
Now, the clients became extremely upset that they didn't get the pp'd images for free (once seeing the difference they didn't want the PP'd ones - this is normal and usually the client has no problem paying extra for the prints as they normally know before hand that this is the case). The hotel then got mad at me as well. I told them our initial agreement and that they didn't let me speak with the clients and that they messed up by not explaining this to them - they disagreed. They don't offer a detailed description of what our agreement was; just that it's not what I am saying what it was.
Here's the tricky part. **Disclaimer: I am an idiot for not saving the email - and for not having a proper contract. I know this now so please don't beat me senseless for a mistake I will not make again. I am a total, total idiot** I don't have the email with our agreement and neither does the hotel. I have all the emails he replied to and the only one he didn't reply to was the one with our detailed agreement. Now, I have not made money off the prints (the clients LOVED them, by the way) because the clients feel wronged (As they should since the hotel told them I am holding out on them in hopes of making an extra buck). So, I've lost money that I always make and expected to this time. The clients also live in the local area (local to the hotel - thailand) and will likely receive the images from the hotel anyway (since the hotel thinks I am wrong and that the client deserves the images.). Now, this is thailand, land of piracy, and I know that once I give my images to this hotel they will have no problems or consequences in giving the client the images. I told the hotel that I will give them the images immediately if they simply apologize to their client for overstating what I would give them. They refuse and now say that they are going to take me to court in CA for breach of contract. I said, "what contract?" They also said if we go to court that they will try to take me to the cleaners - suing for all of their travel and legal fees as well.
Would they likely win? Would I likely be sued for anything more than just having to give them the images? Could I be sued for tens of thousands here? I just really don't think they have anything legitimate against me. Any advise is welcome. Thanks so much for your help!
I'll try to be as descriptive as possible without taking too much time. Feel free to let me know if I need to give you guys more info.
I emailed a hotel in thailand about shooting a wedding for free for them. We had a trade. That I would shoot the wedding and they would give me two room nights for their rights usage of the images. Here was the agreement.
I specifically stated in the email that I would give their client the images the day of the wedding on disc, take the images home, work on them and give those worked on images to the hotel. I would then offer those worked on images to their client if they wanted to purchase the PP'd ones.
Now, the clients became extremely upset that they didn't get the pp'd images for free (once seeing the difference they didn't want the PP'd ones - this is normal and usually the client has no problem paying extra for the prints as they normally know before hand that this is the case). The hotel then got mad at me as well. I told them our initial agreement and that they didn't let me speak with the clients and that they messed up by not explaining this to them - they disagreed. They don't offer a detailed description of what our agreement was; just that it's not what I am saying what it was.
Here's the tricky part. **Disclaimer: I am an idiot for not saving the email - and for not having a proper contract. I know this now so please don't beat me senseless for a mistake I will not make again. I am a total, total idiot** I don't have the email with our agreement and neither does the hotel. I have all the emails he replied to and the only one he didn't reply to was the one with our detailed agreement. Now, I have not made money off the prints (the clients LOVED them, by the way) because the clients feel wronged (As they should since the hotel told them I am holding out on them in hopes of making an extra buck). So, I've lost money that I always make and expected to this time. The clients also live in the local area (local to the hotel - thailand) and will likely receive the images from the hotel anyway (since the hotel thinks I am wrong and that the client deserves the images.). Now, this is thailand, land of piracy, and I know that once I give my images to this hotel they will have no problems or consequences in giving the client the images. I told the hotel that I will give them the images immediately if they simply apologize to their client for overstating what I would give them. They refuse and now say that they are going to take me to court in CA for breach of contract. I said, "what contract?" They also said if we go to court that they will try to take me to the cleaners - suing for all of their travel and legal fees as well.
Would they likely win? Would I likely be sued for anything more than just having to give them the images? Could I be sued for tens of thousands here? I just really don't think they have anything legitimate against me. Any advise is welcome. Thanks so much for your help!
I really am wanting legal advice as opposed to business advice. My main question is that with the new info I listed, how exactly would I lose? And, more importantly, how would I lose more than just having to give the images (i.e. travel expenses and legal fees)?