Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

Being sued for breach of contract

First off, nothing was in writing - I know, stupid me (my supposed business partner is/was my neighbor and friend).

The ''oral agreement'' was changed over and over again during the course of a year and a half by him. He started saying and remembering things differently that by the time we were going to get a formal contract there were obvious disagreements.

He finally said that he didn't want to waste his time, and was going to sue me for the money he already put into the company (which was primarly me being payed while I finished the software product).

I didn't want to stop working on the software product and wanted to complete, however, he was tired of waiting.

Now, as a possible ''settlement offer'' by him for me to go away and let him have all rights to the software and the company, is $5,000 to $8,000.

You probably already gathered that he is the capital in the agreement and I was the programmer/service provider. Obviously, he can sue me (anyone can sue anyone), but can he win? Can I win by defending my self? Who has the rights to the software source code?

I am looking for an attorney and thought that this would be good place to start for an evaluation of my case.


Asked on 9/21/07, 11:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Williamson Charles J. Williamson, Attorney At Law

Re: Being sued for breach of contract

Since it was a verbal contract, the routine procedure would be to follow the patterns of behavior to evaluate how much each person acted in line with the supposed agreement. However, since you say it was a partnership, there may be another was out because I believe that such an agreement must be in writing and registered with the secretary of state for Texas. If so, then there is no partnership to worry about and you own the developed software. In fact, unless it can be proven that there exists(ed) a business relationship, you own the software. Even if it was found that you have a partnership, your former pal would not be able to walk away with the software because partners, by definition, are jointly and severally liable - i.e., you share equally. It could go a number of ways. You need to get with an attorney and have a sit-down to get the whole, full story on the table for proper consideration. Hope this helps.

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Answered on 9/21/07, 11:27 am


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