Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

In order to protect yourself and insure that you will be paid, it is best to memorialize your agreement with a client. It can be a very simple written agreement that sets forth the main points of your agreement, i.e., What you agree to do, the price which your client agrees to pay, the date by which you will deliver the finished product to the client, and the amount of the deposit that the client will pay you at the time that you both sign this agreement. You can also provide that the client will pay you a certain percentage of the total cost at stated intervals of your completion of a certain percentage of the total project. And, delivery to the client of the completed project will be contingent on client paying you in full any outstanding balance. If client does not pay, he does not receive the finished product.

If none of these precautions were taken and the client refuses to pay, but you have already delivered the finished product to the client, then you will have to sue the client for payment based on the principle of �Quantum meruit�.

If the amount that the client owes you is $15,000 or less, you can sue the client in Magisterial District Court. If the amount owed is more than $15,000, then you will have to sue the client in the Court of Common Pleas of the County of the Defendant�s residence, or where the oral contract was entered into.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance, 610-259-2724.

Best of luck,

ANDREA G. TILLIS