 Karen England |
Wedding Contract I have a problem. I am a local photographer and there was a STRONG disagreement with the clients mother and myself. We have a contract that the bride, the mother, and I all signed 3 weeks ago. The wedding is in May, but after this disagreement I would LOVE to be able to get out of doing this wedding. If I refund her money for her deposit would I still run into liability problems? Or pretty much am I stuck doing this wedding disagreement or not? Thanks in advance!!
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Mark Feldstein |
You've got two choices to get you into the legal ballpark only: If you send notice to whomever entered the written contract with you (regardless of who paid for it) you can probably argue what we call "tortious interference with contract" by the mother and therefore "impossibility of performance" because that seems to be the outcome. I would do that after serving mom notice that she's interfering in your contract with XY. You could also try to work it out with the client and tell her you don't want to have further communications with mom and on the day of the wedding, make sure mom knows it's you in charge of photography. Or just tell the daughter, here's your money back, I can't work under these conditions and I would suspect it's going to get worse as we approach the wedding date. Offer to direct her to other photographers. You'd be required to mitigate your damages as she would be required to do the same to hers including finding someone else at this point to fill your boots, so-to-speak. Depends on where you live. Talk to a lawyer who does business litigation in your neighborhood and get their vibe on this under your state law. THEN you have local counsel giving your advice and THAT you can count on and use as a defense at trial, if there is one. Or just have that lawyer write your client a letter saying her mom made it impossible for you to perform and you're rescinding and enclosing her deposit. Then see what happens. Take it light.
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Karen England |
Thanks for the quick response Mark! Boy this has SURELY been an interesting encounter! Luckily I talked with the bride this evening and she agreed with me that it would be best for both parties (b/ we went to school together and know each other well) to void the contract and I would return their deposit. I am however going to write up another contract that voids ALL of the previous contract and states that I did refund their money. Thanks again for the response!! Its nice to be able to hear other's opinions!! Take care!
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Christopher A. Walrath |
Good call, Karen. I think it would be for the best voiding the contract. After all, how for Pete's sake could someone expect to be able to make a halfways decent exposure in a room full of 150 people when you're always looking over your shoulder wondering, 'Where the heck is she now?' You never need the added distractions and I think you are taking the wisest course of action. Thank you
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Mark Feldstein |
There ya go Karen ! Proof that reasonable minds CAN agree on reasonable solutions to difficult problems without resorting to the blows of litigation. Glad to hear you got it resolved AND your friendship survived. Hopefully, you'll get to enjoy the festivities and leave the camera at home. M.
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