Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maine
Can my client claim his money back?
I am a freelance web developer, partnering with a graphic designer. We have a client who has become unprofessional.
The project proposal stated that the client would pay us 1/3 of the fee upon commencement, 1/3 upon graphic design approval, and 1/3 upon project completion. Client paid first third only.
Because client has become unprofessional (unrelated to payment), we have decided to drop him as a client. I communicated this to the client, saying that I would provide him with the code developed to date, in return for the second 1/3 of payment he owed, and that he could then hire another web developer. I have not completed the project, but I have provided much more work than the 2/3 of the fee he would be paying.
Client is now not only threatening not to pay the second 1/3 of the fee (which he should have paid according to the proposal), but also wants the first third of the fee back.
There was unfortunately no ''kill fee'' built into the proposal -- fee that would be paid if the project was not completed.
Do I have a legal leg to stand on to demand the second installment? Does my client have any legal right to demand his initial money back? Thanks for any guidance you can provide.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Can my client claim his money back?
It would help to know more about the project �proposal.� Did it go beyond being a mere proposal to being an agreement or contract acknowledged by your client? Both sides are generally entitled to have a contract honored. Unless the client was first to breach the contract by failing to pay or otherwise meet a contract term, or unless his becoming �unprofessional� amounted to a breach, your stopping performance due to the client�s unprofessionalism could in itself be a breach of the contract for which the client would have a claim against you. If so, your communicating to the client an intent to stop performance likely gave him legal cause to stop performing, e.g., to stop paying you the second installment. You may have a defense for the breach to the extent that performance had become impossible or impractical or if the contract purpose became frustrated in a legal sense �
So yes, you do have a leg to stand on with respect to your desire to collect the second 1/3 and give over all work prodeuct to date, but there is a risk that depending upon facts, the client could instead be entitled to compensatory damages, to be put in as good a position as he would have been had you performed.
As is often the case more information would be need to further evaluate, but hopefully this answer gets you started.
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