Corporate Law Need advice ASAP

[Nocturnal]

I need help with this issue as soon as possible please.
My business is a custom body shop, we entered into a verbal contract with a business from the suburbs of Chicago, Il. we are located in Minnesota. My end of the contract was to do the custom body work and custom paint for this well known bike builder out of surrounding Chicago. His end of the contract was to advertise our business with a link to his web sight, hand out our business cards to potential customers, hang our business logo in his shop, advertise anyway he could for our business, including magazine ads, television spots with his shop. He was to pay half of the labor to do the original bike and we would pay for materials. When we first got this bike he said " I can't win a third place trophy at a local show" what can you do for me? I told him I could turn this bike into a winner. We agree'd to a time frame and everything pertaining to this transaction. After the 5 weeks that we had the bike in question, he assembled it, and went on to win several awards in the local market, Then went on to national shows, which he won, He was named "Bike builder of the year" and is now goinig on national tour with Easyriders Magazine with this bike.
This bike coast $13,000.00 to do the body and paint work, he tells people that he paid $15,000.00 for the body and paint work. But he has only paid my shop $5,500.00 to date with NO advertising that he was to do. He had posters made up and asked us if we wanted our name on them, then charged us $1,000.00 to add our name to it.
Second bike, we did for him cost $6,500.00 for our shop to do, which he stated he would pay. As of today he has yet to pay anything additional, other than the original $5,500.00 for the first bike. My question is can I get a cease and desist order for him to stop showing these two bikes until balance is paid in full? His show tour starts in Jan 08. Someone please help

 

[Michael Wechsler]

You can always have an attorney send a cease and desist letter but it sounds more like you may need to file a case against him in Chicago. That might stop his whirlwind tour in its tracks. However, why did you do a second bike for him if you had a problem with the first bike? It doesn't look very good from a credibility standpoint.

As you probably know now, NEVER engage in verbal contracts for anything this large and this complicated. This is a very difficult case to prove although there is the work that was done and a bill that would seem to be the responsibility of the bike owner. This is a very fact intensive case and complicated. Good luck to you.

 

[Nocturnal]

To make a long story short, We were promised additional advertising with the second bike and seeing how far we went with the first, along with his silver tongue, I guess it was an ego thing. We were named painter of the year for 07, and I guess we were looking for the 08 spot as well, not only that but through out the year we became friends, with his promises that were not kept, I figured it was better to get away from his type of business banter while we were still an opperational shop, Trust me everything is now writen contracts. Thanks for your input on my problem, we have decided to write this off as a loss and sit back and watch him self destruct, as he is well on his way. The second bike that is to be on this show tour was damaged ( all of his own doing) to the point of needing some serious repaint work, we are the only shop in the country that can fix it and we have now refused until the balance is paid in full.