Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: About a Claim

Anyone can take anybody to court for anything. Whether they'll win is a different story.

Whether she'll win depends on whether you made an actual offer, whether you agreed on all of the essential terms of the hire (salary, start date, length of work, duties) and whether she accepted the offer by starting work or by reasonably deterimentally relying on the offer by quitting another job.

Re: About a Claim

As lawyers like to say when asked, "Can I be sued?", all it takes is a typewriter and the $320 filing fee. I would add that the typewriter is optional if your handwriting is legible, and if you're broke there are rules for free filing.

Suing and winning are, of course, two different propositions, but even a suit that lacks merit can be expensive and time-consuming to defend.

In your case, there are a couple of reasons not to worry too much. First, an element of every civil suit is the remedy sought, which is typically money damages or an injunction of some kind. Here, the potential plaintiff probably can't show that she suffered any money damages as a consequence of your breaking your promise. And I see no legal ground upon which a court would order you to hire her.

Second, proving the formation and existence of a contract would be difficult. I don't have all the facts, but very possibly she gave no consideration for your promise, hence there is no contract.

Finally, most employment contracts are "at will," meaning that if you had hired her on 12/15 you could fire her on 12/16. This fact has a very limiting effect on the harm that a would-be hiree can claim in a suit for failure to hire.

I can see some possible exceptions to the foregoing, because sometimes an employer can do or not do something for a good reason, or for no reason at all, that it could not lawfully do for a bad reason. For example, if you hired her not knowing her race, religion, etc. but then reversed your hiring decision upon finding out, this could be unlawful discrimination.

Re: About a Claim

My well worn phrase is: Anybody can sue anybody for anything. Unless you made a firm employment offer she can prove, that required she quit an existing job and relocate to come to work for you, the answer is that she has no case.