Payment for design of product that does not work

[sam2018]

Jurisdiction

Massachusetts

Is there any legal argument to make not to pay an individual/company that charges you by the hour for development work that was never completed? Meaning, this individual has designed something, we ordered a prototype according to his design, it did not work. He changed the design, we ordered the prototype again, it still does not work. We are now looking to give the work to someone else to have it completed. There was no formal contract and we have used this person previously for similar work. Any advice?

 

[zddoodah]

Is there any legal argument to make not to pay an individual/company that charges you by the hour for development work that was never completed?

I'm sure there is. Court files are full of arguments ranging from extremely well-reasoned to downright stupid. I once had an opposing lawyer argue that a statute was unconstitutionally vague because the statute did not define the term "probability," which, according to the opposing lawyer, could mean anything from 1% to 99%. In another case, the lawyer for a porn actress (who also worked as a escort/prostitute) argued that his client's "reputation" had been harmed because some of her porn scenes had been used on a website without her consent. I could go on and on.

Of course, whether there is a good argument in the case about which you are concerned is something we obviously cannot know without all of the relevant facts.

Any advice?

To some extent, it depends on how much $$ is at issue, but the only "advice" anyone can give based on your post is that you should consult with a local attorney.

 

[sam2018]

The invoice is for 19K.
The facts are as follows: we've been working with this person for about 3 years and he invoiced us periodically on work performed and we paid these invoices. There have been some issues previously, in regards to missed deadlines, mistakes, etc, but we always paid the invoices and continued to working with him. The last project he worked on we finally got fed up and have an invoice for 19K for hours he spent on our product, but the product at the end of the day does not work.
A similar situation would be: if you hired someone to make a website for you, without a contract. This person was working on the website, submitting it for tests to you, but it didn't work once, then it didn't work twice. You finally decided to go to a different programmer. Do you owe money to the first programmer for the hours he spent doing the website that does not work?

 

[zddoodah]

Without a clear written contract, arguments can be made on either side. Suffice to say that, if you don't pay as agreed, the other party will have to make the decision to sue or not. This is why smart business folks reduce their agreements to written contracts.

 

[mightymoose]

If work was done I'd expect you are io the hook to pay. That the work was not useable is a different issue.
How much to pay depends on your contracts.