

Ask YC: Client Presses Charges (an update) - iamdave

It's now been a week since (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=263646) one of my developers was threatened with legal action from a client regarding a deposit they made for him to put together a site.<p>The client has officially pressed charges after our boy resigned, and decided to move back up north and refocus his life.  Needless to say, internally there's lots of concern and we're deciding to lease out our programmers if someone requests services from them.  Meaning, if our developers end up working for their own client, that client will be billed at our company rate, under company standards and policies to protect such a thing from ever happening again.  In addition to this, the client must meet with me personally and sign an agreement of indemnity which will secure the company if they client is dissatisfied.<p>The last thing we want is to stifle these guy's skills and force them to work on only one thing all the time, even though I know some of you will think it's just a bad idea to let our developers work on outside projects anyway.<p>Regarding our boy, Jim. We're giving him access to our legal resources to combat this, after taking a look at the paper work he initiated the client doesn't appear to have a case and Jim is expected to pull through with flying colors.<p>I posted this primarily as a little alert to new founders and people getting into the game: Keep every little bit of paper work you get, understand the legality behind starting a business, even if it's a simple web shop being developed by someone else.  And for Christ's sake, if you're a business person with no know-how in technology, be prepared to pay the developer you hire more than you think they'll need.<p><i>Any suggestions that you guys want to throw out here, I'm sure Jim will appreciate the encouragement and advice on dealing with the matter.</i>
======
swombat
_Keep every little bit of paper work you get_

That applies to pretty much any knowledge-based job out there. I worked as a
consultant for several years, and every time I lapsed from keeping everything
in writing I paid for it.

 _And for Christ's sake, if you're a business person with no know-how in
technology, be prepared to pay the developer you hire more than you think
they'll need._

If you're a business person with no know-how in technology and you want to
start an on-line business, be prepared to take on a technical heavyweight as
your co-founder. Otherwise, you have very little chance of making it, imho.

------
tstegart
Suggestions? Always be polite to the Judge. Be on time. Do the background work
to make sure you look good. i.e. did Jim turn over what he has worked on for
the amount he is keeping. Thats sort of thing always goes over well.

------
gaius
Surely a deposit is by definition non-refundable? That's what a deposit _is_.

~~~
tstegart
Or possibly a deposit is what the client thinks it is. Unless its in writing
or talked about as being non-refundable, then it could be anything. Anyone
who's ever been involved in litigation learns very quickly that you don't
always get to choose your own definition for words. Unless two people agree it
is non-refundable, then the definition is up for grabs. Thats what lawyers do
my friend. :)

