Legal Question in Technology Law in California

We hired a web development company ("Company") a couple of months ago.

Long story short, they lied about their qualifications and what they could do. They kept promising that they could complete our project to our requirements. They breached their contract and we never got not even an "incomplete" product. They collected two payments.

We fired them and had our lawyers write them letters demanding our money back, which they did not respond to costing us lawyer fees. Our lawyers said that the amount is too little to litigate and not worth taking to court or pursuiing. Well, that money came out of mine and my partner's pocket and it really hurt us trying to start our first business.

Anyway, we called their other clients and came to find out that the same happened to at least 3 of their clients (we can imagine there were more - we only got a hold of 3). We lost about the same amount of money. The Company since shutdown their office and ran away with all our monies. One of the founders is believed to have fled the country, but this is not a fact. We know were they live and have their emails and cell numbers (they don't respond of course).

There's got to be a lawyer out there good enough to be able to PUNISH these scammers more than get our money back, although of course, we'd love to recover all of our money. The Company should not ever be able to do business again for scam and fraud.

If you can help, please state how strong you think this case is individually and collectlively, your course of action and how well you think it will follow through in getting the response we want.

Thanx.


Asked on 11/02/09, 9:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

The question isn't really whether the lawyer is "good enough". Instead, it is whether taking the case makes sense as a business decision. If you can pay lawyers by the hour and are willing to do so even though the cost will likely exceed the amount of any recovery, then plenty of lawyers will be interested in the case.

But if you want a lawyer who will take the case for a contingent fee then you will probably be disappointed. Lawyers only take such cases when it appears reasonably likely that they will be able to earn a large enough fee to justify their effort. This does not appear to be such a case.

If you want to see the company and its principals punished, you can report them to the appropriate governmental unit and/or regulatory agency. (I can't direct you to a particular office since I don't know what kind of business this was.) You don't need to hire a lawyer in order to do that.

Good luck. I wish I could be more encouraging.

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Answered on 11/07/09, 10:24 pm


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