Going To Court! What would U do?

Kosher1

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Got a company to sign a very string contract for 30 keywords. 12 month contract.

In 4.5 months 28 of the keywords ate on 1st page.

Rate of contact: $3000/mo
Months Paid: 5

They still owe me about $20,000.

They figured I busted my ass why pay me more, and hired some idiot to work from there office on the site and few other sites they got.

Question; Must I hire an attorney ?

What would you do in this case?

They are paid to date but clearly said they will not continue the contract, can I sue in future agreed upon payment they are refusing to pay in advance?
 
If they signed a contract, and the reasons were not in result of any default of your own, then yes you can sue. You can hire an attorney, but if the contract was clear and detailed enough, then I wouldn't worry about an attorney.
 
This would be a tough one to decide, but certainly if your contract stipulated that the agreement was for X months and they now decided to back out you may have something.

Some things I might check off first before pursuing:

a. does the contract clearly states that they must stay with you for the full 12 months?
b. see if they might be interested in a reduced amount
c. check with a lawyer to see what they think about the case - many will provide a free consultation to determine the likelihood of winning.

*please note, none of the above comments should be considered legal advice and you should consult a professional legal representative for more information.
 
This would be a tough one to decide, but certainly if your contract stipulated that the agreement was for X months and they now decided to back out you may have something.

Some things I might check off first before pursuing:

a. does the contract clearly states that they must stay with you for the full 12 months?
b. see if they might be interested in a reduced amount
c. check with a lawyer to see what they think about the case - many will provide a free consultation to determine the likelihood of winning.

*please note, none of the above comments should be considered legal advice and you should consult a professional legal representative for more information.

Your 3 points are solid. Thnx.
 
I would hire a attorney to review the contract and the reason you want to do that is to combat them if they hire a attorney to review the contract to see if there's any loopholes
where they won't have to pay u the rest of the money.
 
Well depends really on what exactly the contract says, if both parties signed it the contract is valid. You should go to a lwayer with the contract in your hand, doesn't cost much for first consultation, maybe even free and then you will know more.

Don't ask in a Blackhat forum, nothing good can come out of that :)
 
breach of contract is worth perusing if it's clear in the contract what the T&C were
 
I would hire a attorney to review the contract and the reason you want to do that is to combat them if they hire a attorney to review the contract to see if there's any loopholes
where they won't have to pay u the rest of the money.

Thanks but to be very honest with you my contract is full proof to the point where I don't even guarantee first 20 positions on any keyword.
 
Well depends really on what exactly the contract says, if both parties signed it the contract is valid. You should go to a lwayer with the contract in your hand, doesn't cost much for first consultation, maybe even free and then you will know more.

Don't ask in a Blackhat forum, nothing good can come out of that :)

Thnx. They say "who is a wise man? The one that 'learns' from EVERYONE, even from the fool"

:-)
 
breach of contract is worth perusing if it's clear in the contract what the T&C were

Will court most likely force them to continue my services or make them pay the difference owed?
 
If they signed a contract, you can sue, if they have breached it. You can't take them to small claims, it's over $5,000 limit. You would have to sue them civilly, for breach of contract.

I don't know how well it will hold up, because it wasn't notarized or witnessed. Notarized documents have more weight in court. The defendant can easily say it wasn't their signature. Then, it would be their word against yours. That would be hard to prove. Then it would come down to credibility and personal issues. Yes, personal issues. The opposing counsel will use any personal discrepancies to destroy your credibility.

Anything can happen in court, even if it is a slam dunk. A small credibility issue can ruin the straightest lawsuits.

Another way to look at it, your clients made a huge mistake by switching to in house seo. You got them to the front page. So, they think they will stay there and not need you. Big mistake, everyone in the seo world knows that if you stop link building, your rankings will sink. Or worse, do something stupid and it will get the penalized.

You could always just sit it out for a while and let their rankings tank. Then, maybe they will pay you and go back to your services.

I would also like to mention, you don't have to sue them right away, there is a 4-6 year statue of limitations. You will have to look at your states statute of limitation laws for contracts for the exact time limit.

This is not legal advice, and is for informational purposes only.
 
I have had many legal scuffles over the years. Some good and some bad.

You should get your attorney to review the contract and all of your communications.

Then, if he thinks you have a case, sue them.

As the "little guy" (the one suing for unpaid wages/contract) you have the upper hand. 99% of the time judges and juries give the case to the "little guy". (just like most employment cases).

More than likely you will settle with them. Plan on getting 1/2 of what they owe you ($10k) and plan on splitting it with your attorney. You should net $5k. I bet your case takes a year to settle.

Good luck!
 
There's a signed contract, so you should have a good evidence to prove it.
 
I don't know how well it will hold up, because it wasn't notarized or witnessed. Notarized documents have more weight in court. The defendant can easily say it wasn't their signature. Then, it would be their word against yours. That would be hard to prove. Then it would come down to credibility and personal issues. Yes, personal issues. The opposing counsel will use any personal discrepancies to destroy your credibility.
You sound like you know a lot more than me in this area, but seems logical to me, despite it not being notarized, there is proof the company was paying the stated amount in the contract and they had been working together over that period, so I'd think that should hold some weight too. /shrug
 
I would definitely pursue this, you shouldn't have any trouble getting a judgement. However, in the mean time I was xrumer and SB their site into oblivion.
 
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