Business Contracts Ongoing Issue with Web Developer

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JasperBoy1122

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My LLC hired a web developer a couple of years back to do some work for us. Initially, we met with him and went over the details of what we wanted in the website (ability to sell various things and run events). After our meeting, he sent us a proposal outlining the various portions of the website and how much they would cost, as well as a retainer option with discounted rates for pre-purchasing a bulk set of hours.

The initial retainer document he sent us contained the following information (pulled directly from the document):
-Retainer clients are always given a higher priority when it comes to projects
-Discounted hourly rate from regular hourly or project rate

Agreement Details (the proposed retainer agreement would include the following):
-60 hours of work per month for two months
-$50 per hour flat rate fee (regular rates vary from $40-$75 per hour)
-Payment will be requested from client upon initiation of the project, and each month thereafter
-Client will determine which parts of the project hold priority over others

Because the retainer option would allow us to get more hours at a cheaper rate, we decided to go with that option, since it was only slightly more money than the initial proposal. Three weeks later, we met with him to sign the contract, which read as below:

Retainer Agreement
This will constitute an agreement between client and developer for graphic design, web development and consulting services for the period (8/15/2012) to (10/15/2012).

During this period, the web developer agrees to devote up to (60) hours per month on assignments to be determined by the client. Work priority and scheduling will be at the discretion of the client. Payment for these services will be made to the web developer at a rate of $3,000 dollars per month and will be made for the following month no later than the 15th day of each month that the agreement is in force.

Services in addition to (60) per month will be made available at the rate of $50 per hour, and will be billed separately.

(some other details I excluded that I don't think are relevant to the issue).

So, onto the actual issues:
-After the first month of the contract period (ending Sept 15, 2012), web developer sends an email stating he didn't use all 60 hours, and that he would just roll the extra hours into next month
-At the end of the contract period (Oct 15, 2012) we emailed the web developer asking for an update and what our hour usage was
-Web developer responds on Oct 19, 2012 (after the end of the contract period) and states that only 75 hours total had been used, and we still had 45 hours remaining
-Web developer says he took on too much work, and wasn't able to focus on our project as much as he thought he would, and apologized. We continued to work with him, giving him the benefit of the doubt, and allowed the hours to roll into later months.
-On December 6, 2012 web developer stated he had still only used 103 hours, but that he felt good about completing the project within the 120 hours. We continued to give him the benefit of the doubt...
-A couple of months later, the project still wasn't complete, and we wanted to know when we hit 120, so that we could pay him for any hours that he put in above 120. He declined any additional payment, and offered to complete the project with no additional charges since it had taken so long.
-Now, two and half years later, the project still isn't complete (after various battles and other complaints along the way).

Over the course of the project the web developer admitted to taking on too much work, mismanaging the project, and not being able to dedicate enough time to our project (explicitly stating those things - all in various emails that I have copies of). Here are the biggest issues we've had with him throughout the project, which we can prove through copies of emails and other web chats:
-Unresponsiveness and lack of communication
-Constant delays and pushing back deadlines
-Taking advantage of our willingness to work with him
-Lack of progress unless continuously prodded by us (sometimes he would go weeks or months without responding to us or giving updates)
-Constantly misleading us to believe project was close to completion (stated at least half a dozen times the website was almost ready to launch, and months later it still wasn't launched)

-Do we have a valid case to get back all or any of the $6,000 we paid to him?
-Do we have a valid case to recover lost potential earnings?
The web designer knew from our very first discussions that the website was going to be used for selling various items and running events. He knew specifically of two events that we were planning on running, which we had estimated would earn us >$5,000. He had even started working on an online registration form for one of the events, but delivered it later than he said he would, so we had to cancel the event (after receiving some payments).

Essentially, due to the 2+ year schedule overrun, we have lost out on 2+ years of earnings.

Any advice or guidance you have is much appreciated!
 
Any advice or guidance you have is much appreciated!

That's far too lengthy to read.

My suggestion is the usual for lengthy complex problems, see a lawyer in your county.

You don't want to make decisions for your business from information portioned out by anonymous beings on the internet.
 
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