Legal Question in Business Law in California
Breach of Contract, failure to pay for services rendered
I work for a small business (2 of us) and we have a valid contract with a physician who contracted for our services, both hardward and software programs. we installed all of the hardware and wrote a specific software program for him. he has used this software to run his office. we recently found out that he has accepted a position in another state, but has failed to pay us the balance that he owes. it is over $7200.00 and does not fall in the small claims area. we can't afford not to have him pay (we set up payment plan with him and he still didn't pay) but are not sure what to do next. we can't really afford an attorney either. any suggestions?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Breach of Contract, failure to pay for services rendered
You haven't said what type of business you work for (Is it a corporation? A sole proprietorship? A partnership?), but chances are your business is required to have a lawyer in order to appear in court.
The rule which requires most businesses to appear via counsel does not apply in small claims court, so if you want to sue without paying a lawyer this may be your only option. You will only be able to seek $5,000, which is the small claims court's jurisfictional limit, but the process is much simpler and you and your colleague will be able to do the work yourselves. You will be waiving the remaining $2,200 of your claim, but you would avoid the need for an attorney as well as the cost, time and effort involved in bringing even a small superior court case.
Re: Breach of Contract, failure to pay for services rendered
its a businesss ecision but sue him immedialtly before he goes out of state so you can get jurisdiction personally over him and remember you still have to collect if you are successful --- the attorney mey be worth their amout paid since it appears you are not knowlegable in this area
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