I'll do my best to keep this as succinct as possible:
I am a programmer. I was hired to build two eCommerce websites by a designer for two of her clients. The project was supposed to take four months, during which the clients paid me monthly for my time. Unfortunately, nine months later, nothing got done, because the designer never finished designing the sites, and consequently I never got the chance to build them. This is in New York City.
Presently, nine months after the project started, the two clients, who paid me directly, want their money back. This is the first contact I've had with either of them since before the project started, as I wasn't managing the gig. I was for all intents and purposes a sub contractor, though the clients paid me directly by check (lamentably).
The project was two eCommerce sites built together as one large project, so actually the one project was really two, with two separate clients with two separate beefs. There's a female client and a male client. The female client is relatively reasonable about the situation. She wants her money back, she doesn't care whose 'fault' it is that her site never got built, but she is able to talk to me on the phone about things in a calm and controlled manner. The male client is decidedly unreasonable about the situation. He won't talk to me on the phone, all his emails are seething with rage and barely comprehensible in their logic, and he is saying he is going to charge me with Grand Larceny (the amount he paid was $9000 ), and hire a fancy lawyer to sue me for not only what he paid me but also any loss in profits from the eCommerce site not being up. (How he would calculate this is a mystery to me.)
To further complicate matters I'm not currently living in the States right now. I'm living abroad for a period. Ironically a big part of why I moved away when I did was so I'd have the time and space to complete these projects that were taking an eternity to get designed. Only here I am many months later, and now the male client is saying I 'fled' the country with his 'stolen' money and he's going to make sure a swat team of local authorities are going to break down my door down and extradite me back to the states where he and his fancy lawyers can have their way with me.
In terms of a contract we didn't really have a well formatted one. What we both signed is titled a 'Price Quote', and it's basically a summary of the project and a schedule for payments and receivables. My name isn't even on this document except where I signed it at the bottom because the designer, or her 'firm' (sole proprietorship), was managing the project and in charge of it. Her logo is at the top with her contact information and such. The clients were clients of hers, I'd never worked with either of them before, and only interacted with each of them once for a meet and greet before the project started.
For me personally it boils down to this: I said I would make myself available for four months, and I made kept my schedule clear for eight. I wasn't managing the project, and neither of the clients contacted me at any time during this eight month period to say 'hey what the hell'. Neither of the clients paid the full amount we agreed to, both of them fell short when it became more and more obvious things weren't happening as they should, and though the designer refuses to take responsibility for the failed project, she simply never sent me the materials I needed to do my part of the gig. As far as I'm concerned, the 9 thousand dollars each of the clients paid me bought time that was wasted by the person managing the project, and while I don't feel they aren't entitled to getting their money back, I don't feel they are entitled to their money back from me. My feeling is if they did truly hold me personally responsible for getting their sites up, they should have at a very minimum contacted me months ago when I was on the clock so we could try to work something out. Not call me almost a year later and demand their money back or they'll sue. Or in the case of the male client blackmail me with a Grand Larceny charge and painful drama.
Although I feel I owe them nothing, that their money paid for time wasted by the person managing the project and the very same person who failed to do their work, I am willing to compromise. I feel a reasonable compromise would be to pay them back a portion of what they paid me, and for them to hold the person who managed the project and who they entrusted the gig to responsible for the rest. Though it may be (or may not be) possible to come to an agreement such as described with the female client, clearly it would be impossible to negotiate with the inconsolably enraged business guy.
My first question is:
While I'm out of the country, can this male client who is off his rocker charge me with Grand Larceny and make problems for me here? Regardless of where I am could these charges be seen as at all valid?
My second question is:
Independent of what seems to be ludicrous 'theft' charges do these clients have a case for breach of contract or something else to retrieve the money they paid me?
My third and last question is:
How do I go about finding a lawyer to help me with this case? I'm poor, what are my options for doing dealing with this situation as inexpensively as possible?
Thank you for your feedback and assistance in this manner,
C7
I am a programmer. I was hired to build two eCommerce websites by a designer for two of her clients. The project was supposed to take four months, during which the clients paid me monthly for my time. Unfortunately, nine months later, nothing got done, because the designer never finished designing the sites, and consequently I never got the chance to build them. This is in New York City.
Presently, nine months after the project started, the two clients, who paid me directly, want their money back. This is the first contact I've had with either of them since before the project started, as I wasn't managing the gig. I was for all intents and purposes a sub contractor, though the clients paid me directly by check (lamentably).
The project was two eCommerce sites built together as one large project, so actually the one project was really two, with two separate clients with two separate beefs. There's a female client and a male client. The female client is relatively reasonable about the situation. She wants her money back, she doesn't care whose 'fault' it is that her site never got built, but she is able to talk to me on the phone about things in a calm and controlled manner. The male client is decidedly unreasonable about the situation. He won't talk to me on the phone, all his emails are seething with rage and barely comprehensible in their logic, and he is saying he is going to charge me with Grand Larceny (the amount he paid was $9000 ), and hire a fancy lawyer to sue me for not only what he paid me but also any loss in profits from the eCommerce site not being up. (How he would calculate this is a mystery to me.)
To further complicate matters I'm not currently living in the States right now. I'm living abroad for a period. Ironically a big part of why I moved away when I did was so I'd have the time and space to complete these projects that were taking an eternity to get designed. Only here I am many months later, and now the male client is saying I 'fled' the country with his 'stolen' money and he's going to make sure a swat team of local authorities are going to break down my door down and extradite me back to the states where he and his fancy lawyers can have their way with me.
In terms of a contract we didn't really have a well formatted one. What we both signed is titled a 'Price Quote', and it's basically a summary of the project and a schedule for payments and receivables. My name isn't even on this document except where I signed it at the bottom because the designer, or her 'firm' (sole proprietorship), was managing the project and in charge of it. Her logo is at the top with her contact information and such. The clients were clients of hers, I'd never worked with either of them before, and only interacted with each of them once for a meet and greet before the project started.
For me personally it boils down to this: I said I would make myself available for four months, and I made kept my schedule clear for eight. I wasn't managing the project, and neither of the clients contacted me at any time during this eight month period to say 'hey what the hell'. Neither of the clients paid the full amount we agreed to, both of them fell short when it became more and more obvious things weren't happening as they should, and though the designer refuses to take responsibility for the failed project, she simply never sent me the materials I needed to do my part of the gig. As far as I'm concerned, the 9 thousand dollars each of the clients paid me bought time that was wasted by the person managing the project, and while I don't feel they aren't entitled to getting their money back, I don't feel they are entitled to their money back from me. My feeling is if they did truly hold me personally responsible for getting their sites up, they should have at a very minimum contacted me months ago when I was on the clock so we could try to work something out. Not call me almost a year later and demand their money back or they'll sue. Or in the case of the male client blackmail me with a Grand Larceny charge and painful drama.
Although I feel I owe them nothing, that their money paid for time wasted by the person managing the project and the very same person who failed to do their work, I am willing to compromise. I feel a reasonable compromise would be to pay them back a portion of what they paid me, and for them to hold the person who managed the project and who they entrusted the gig to responsible for the rest. Though it may be (or may not be) possible to come to an agreement such as described with the female client, clearly it would be impossible to negotiate with the inconsolably enraged business guy.
My first question is:
While I'm out of the country, can this male client who is off his rocker charge me with Grand Larceny and make problems for me here? Regardless of where I am could these charges be seen as at all valid?
My second question is:
Independent of what seems to be ludicrous 'theft' charges do these clients have a case for breach of contract or something else to retrieve the money they paid me?
My third and last question is:
How do I go about finding a lawyer to help me with this case? I'm poor, what are my options for doing dealing with this situation as inexpensively as possible?
Thank you for your feedback and assistance in this manner,
C7
Last edited:
