Jurisdiction

[jimmyy]

I am in Southern California and placed an ad on Craigslist asking for someone local to the area build me a website (I was not interested in offshore companies doing the work). Unfortunately, I chose a guy who is in St. Louis. There is no contract but the facts are contained in email correspondence. Through email and phone conversations, we arrived at a price of $4000.00 and for the job to be completed in 3 weeks. The agreement was $2,000.00 in advance, $1,000.00 when the site is up and the final $1,000.00 upon completion of the details. There is no dispute as to the scope of work, its just that he has not finished - 3 months later. I have a partial unusable website that I can't access to have someone else finish if I could in fact find someone able to do so.

Resolution - I would like the site finished or get my money back. If I send a demand letter and subsequently file a claim, who has jurisdiction, me in CA or him in MO?

Also, since I can show that there is some damage from my site not being up - lost business etc., does this qualify as a Tort?

I did my diligence on this person and their company - but look where that got me. While I would like to get my money back, I don't expect to and want to win a judgment so I can post my experiences with this person and their company on a webpage so others may be forewarned.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[army judge]

You'd have to sue him in Missouri.
A California court has no ability to compel this person in Missouri to answer to your lawsuit.
The costs associated with such a suit In Missouri (assuming you'd win) makes the decision easy. It is time to cut your losses and walk away.

 

[mightymoose]

Rather than exhausting resources in a lawsuit out of state, you should continue your efforts toward getting him to complete the project.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

1. You may be able to sue in Southern California. But you're looking at a difficult process in getting paid, even if you do. It's a small claims court case and, as army judge states, if that's the route you're taking you wouldn't be able to sue in Southern California.

2. The advice given you is spot on - best to negotiate the completion of the work. At worst, get what you have and get someone else to complete it. Perhaps best to see what you can do to leverage the developer to work with you, e.g. search online forums where this "reputable" person hangs out.

3. Only with certain exceptions, I would never pay 50% up front and especially with someone I don't know. Most agreements are 40% maximum and are milestone payments. Hindsight is 20/20 but figured I'd mention this.