Here's the situation. A friend and I taught at a dance studio in Iowa for the past couple of years. The studio owner never once had us sign any type of contract - no employment contract, no "no compete", nothing. There were a large number of unhappy parents at the studio in the last 6 months because of a number of complaints and many were already looking at other studios in the area. These parents had a meeting with the studio owner about their concerns and she basically gave excuses for each concern and didn't commit to fixing any of them. She then proceeded to leave the meeting early to go play golf, infuriating the parents.
My friend and I had talked for a couple of years about eventually wanting to open our own studio together, we were also unhappy working under this lady (a dancer, not a business person whatsoever), so we talked and researched for many weeks about the feasibility of opening our own studio. We didn't tell anybody except for our parents about our ideas. We started looking around town for commercial space to lease and set-up a meeting with the studio owner to let her know that we would be leaving her studio. We told her on Tuesday, May 27th, and needless to say, she was not thrilled. She would not let us teach our last week of classes and banned us from attending the annual recital that would take place a week later. We understood that she had every right to be mad, especially because my friend and I teach over 50% of all of her classes, but we also felt very strongly that we have every right to open our own business and had done so in a very cautious, respectful manner (not telling anyone else except immediate family before her etc.).
We both received our last check for teaching at her studio, but my friend did the choreography for the recital's opener and was never paid for it. It was our understanding that under copyright law, my friend still owned the rights to the choreography because it had been freelance work that wasn't part of her usual employment or salary. We decided to take the high road and not be nasty about it, so my friend did not pull her choreography from the recital (which was last weekend). The dance was performed over a dozen times between all the different shows, and my friend has still yet to receive payment for it.
Our new studio has been under construction this week, and we were planning on opening our doors for summer classes on June 23rd. We started registration yesterday and had over 20 students in a few hours. Another 30 students had contacted us through email/phone calls in the past few days asking us about our venture, how they can register etc. These same students were students at the previous studio and had already registered, and many of them paid, for their summer classes. The studio owner has never had a formal refund policy, and has given hundreds of refunds to people over the past 20 years of business. One parent told the studio owner before recital that they would be switching to our studio and the studio owner said she would give them a refund. Now after recital is over, dozens of people have contacted her studio this week asking to be withdrawn from classes and given refunds, but she has suddenly started to refuse to give refunds to anyone that wants to come to our studio. These parents are now caught in the middle, registered at both studios, but already paid at one. If they can't get a refund then they won't take class at our studio this summer because they can't pay for two studios. The studio owner did say that she would honor the refund to the one parent who asked her early, but is refusing to give refunds to anyone else.
Summer classes haven't started yet, they start next Monday the 16th, so no services have been rendered. Is she legally allowed to keep these people's money even though she doesn't have a refund policy, has given them to people in the past, and no services have been rendered yet?
We're in a major time crunch since classes will start soon, and my friend and I are obviously worried that we won't be able to pay our lease payments, bills etc. this summer if all of these students we were counting on can't switch.
Any legal code that you could find for me, any advice etc. would be incredibly appreciated... I'm freaking out!
My friend and I had talked for a couple of years about eventually wanting to open our own studio together, we were also unhappy working under this lady (a dancer, not a business person whatsoever), so we talked and researched for many weeks about the feasibility of opening our own studio. We didn't tell anybody except for our parents about our ideas. We started looking around town for commercial space to lease and set-up a meeting with the studio owner to let her know that we would be leaving her studio. We told her on Tuesday, May 27th, and needless to say, she was not thrilled. She would not let us teach our last week of classes and banned us from attending the annual recital that would take place a week later. We understood that she had every right to be mad, especially because my friend and I teach over 50% of all of her classes, but we also felt very strongly that we have every right to open our own business and had done so in a very cautious, respectful manner (not telling anyone else except immediate family before her etc.).
We both received our last check for teaching at her studio, but my friend did the choreography for the recital's opener and was never paid for it. It was our understanding that under copyright law, my friend still owned the rights to the choreography because it had been freelance work that wasn't part of her usual employment or salary. We decided to take the high road and not be nasty about it, so my friend did not pull her choreography from the recital (which was last weekend). The dance was performed over a dozen times between all the different shows, and my friend has still yet to receive payment for it.
Our new studio has been under construction this week, and we were planning on opening our doors for summer classes on June 23rd. We started registration yesterday and had over 20 students in a few hours. Another 30 students had contacted us through email/phone calls in the past few days asking us about our venture, how they can register etc. These same students were students at the previous studio and had already registered, and many of them paid, for their summer classes. The studio owner has never had a formal refund policy, and has given hundreds of refunds to people over the past 20 years of business. One parent told the studio owner before recital that they would be switching to our studio and the studio owner said she would give them a refund. Now after recital is over, dozens of people have contacted her studio this week asking to be withdrawn from classes and given refunds, but she has suddenly started to refuse to give refunds to anyone that wants to come to our studio. These parents are now caught in the middle, registered at both studios, but already paid at one. If they can't get a refund then they won't take class at our studio this summer because they can't pay for two studios. The studio owner did say that she would honor the refund to the one parent who asked her early, but is refusing to give refunds to anyone else.
Summer classes haven't started yet, they start next Monday the 16th, so no services have been rendered. Is she legally allowed to keep these people's money even though she doesn't have a refund policy, has given them to people in the past, and no services have been rendered yet?
We're in a major time crunch since classes will start soon, and my friend and I are obviously worried that we won't be able to pay our lease payments, bills etc. this summer if all of these students we were counting on can't switch.
Any legal code that you could find for me, any advice etc. would be incredibly appreciated... I'm freaking out!
