I had a website built and have noticed quite a few functionality issues, I have since parted ways with my developer because of these and other issues. If I was to litigate, would I need a quote from another developer to come up with a value to fix the problems in order to have an amount to litigate for? Or could I say the site is about 70% of what I was hoping for functionality wise and sue for the other 30, I'm guessing a hard dollar quote?
Litigation questions?
- Thread starter wazup
- Start date
1. Give us the amount of money are you seeking.
Small Claims Court
a) Less than $10k?
b) $10-25K
Superior Court - Simplified Procedure
c) $25-$50k
d) $50-100k
Superior Court
e) more than $100k
The reality of it is that you need to put your business first, which means spending whatever it takes (that is fair value and that you can afford) to fix the problem and get your website up and running. THEN you sue him for that amount, plus any profit you lost while you were offline because of his breach of contract.
That is the dollar amount you should sue for.
Or if you paid him, say, $100k for the job and you think he still owes you 30% then you can try suing him for $30k (or better yet, $25k in Small Claims Court)
And you will most certainly require the paid advice and services of a lawyer. I would suggest to you that you should be prepared to pay an initial retainer (down payment) of $5k and may pay a total of $10k to $15k.
Oftentimes in these situations you need to carefully reassess your "investment" in light of the principles of "stranded costs" and decide if it is worth pursuing and even if your business is truly viable. Form all I can recall of this venture wit this guy, and your lack of experience and knowledge of this business, you might really be wiser to not throw good money after bad and chalk it up to misadventure. Even GREAT idea, attempted by those knowledgable in the particular field often don;t work out .
Do not fall into the trap of "But this is my dream, and I am GOING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it work NO MATTER WHAT ANYBODY SAYS!" frame of mind.
I'm going to start with a 500 dollar letter that a lawyer will send, the total sum might be 10-15k, if that doesn't work I may report him to CRA as I paid him a significant 5 figure sum last year for work that he did and he didn't report any of it. This would probably ruin his life, marriage everything, as he was trying to hide money so his wife could get school loans. It's all tracable as they were bank drafts, email transfers, contracts, emails, etc.
Did you notify him of your dissatisfaction? You must give him an opportunity to fix the problem before you sue. It may be an easy fix.
Probably the best advice so far. OP should write him on why he's not satisfied and list everything out in black and white before going the litigation route. Things can get messy quick if there never was a clear agreement or contract about what the developer was supposed to do and what your specifications are.
Send him the letter. If he refuses advise him he has 48 hours to comply or you will report him to the cra. If he already did his taxes he would be in serious shit.
Play hardball. Be calm and cold about it.
I can't threaten like that, blackmail I believe, could do it in a phone call maybe, not in an email.
Of course via phonecall. But it's not blackmail. You are in fact reporting a crime. The last thing he can do is come back with that or cra finds out anyway.
The whole reason to write a detailed and registered letter to him is to have evidence should you pursue litigation. Just be factual on how he breached the contract. Threatening that you're going to report him to the CRA (or anything else for that matter) may make things worse especially since it seems that you were satisfied with that work. Just get your 30% (or whatever) value of your incomplete web-site and be done with it. IMO it's a waste to go after him for unreported income when you're not going to see any of that. It's the CRA's job to go after him for that.
If you insist on reporting him, you can do it anonymously at: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/leads/
How thick is the contract that says what work has to be done? If you just asked for a website to do some function for you, and he said, yeah, I can do that for you for ? dollars. Then as the project progresses you see how it could do more for you, and suddenly things that initially would have been nice to have become necessities.
Our company usually report fees paid to external consultants on a T4A. We claim the expense and it is the responsibility of the consultant to report the income.
[h=1]When to fill out a T4A slip[/h]Fill out a T4A slip if you are a payer, such as an employer, a trustee, an estate executor (or liquidator), an administrator, or a corporate director, and you pay any of the following types of income:
- pension or superannuation;
- lump-sum payments;
- self-employed commissions;
- annuities;
- patronage allocations;
- registered education savings plan (RESP) accumulated income payments;
- RESP educational assistance payments;
- fees or other amounts for services; or
- other income such as research grants, payments from a Registered disability savings plan (RDSP); wage-loss replacement plan payments if you were not required to withhold Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions and employment insurance (EI) premiums, death benefits, or certain benefits paid to partnerships or shareholders.
I would send him the lawyer letter, then follow up with a phone call. Don't make threats, but considering what you know he's in a really bad situation for a guy who is messing with you. He has way more to lose than you do.
Ask him when you call where the T4A should be sent, just say that you want to end your business relationship properly with all paperwork done right.
If you really want to screw with him, wait till he files his taxes then do all of the above this fall. He probably doesn't have the sense to re-file and adjust his numbers, and will be screwed.
An anonymous call to his wife probably isn't a bad idea too if things get ugly and he won't pay. She should know that he's receiving income and hiding it from her. At least if he steals your $ don't make it easy for him to do so
I gotta say thx to everyone for giving their input. I've been a citizen for 20 years but wen it comes to litigation issues in a newbie. Going thru this convo is a good starting research material yall.
This post is like bunch of ppl have a keyboard conversation .... And then going to our fav SP for relaxation
This post is like bunch of ppl have a keyboard conversation .... And then going to our fav SP for relaxation
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