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subodhsri2
Community Member

Client threatening to go to court after I won Arbitration / Dispute

Ran into a client who wanted to become an overnight billionaire using his product that he was building for over 5 years. Worked with him for over a year and ended up in a dispute (I sensed that long ago). Client has over 20 years of IT experience in Project Management and is an Agile Practitioner. I wonder why people fail to apply all the preachings, they give to others, on their projects?

 

It was too bad working with him. Drained our energy, motivaton, profits and self-esteem. Client always paid 30 days AFTER careful & thorough review of work product & code quality. He disputed amount paid in last 30 days and I didn't agree, obviously.

 

Case went for Arbitration and thankfully it went in my favor.

 

Client is threatening to file a lawsuit against me & Upwork and blah blah blah. 

 

Is Upwork not supposed to take action against such a dreadhead person?

 

Note: I'm sharing a general format on how I responded to AAA during Arbitration process. It may be useful to someone like me who has never been through this trauma (I have removed all of PII - let me know if you notice anything and I'll remove it too) 

 

**Edited for community guidelines**

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
lysis10
Community Member

Since when is threatening a lawsuit a cause for action on any platform anywhere? He's mad that he lost who cares what he says?

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22 REPLIES 22
lysis10
Community Member

Since when is threatening a lawsuit a cause for action on any platform anywhere? He's mad that he lost who cares what he says?

petra_r
Community Member


Subodh S wrote:

Client is threatening to file a lawsuit against me & Upwork and blah blah blah. 


.... blah blah blah sums it up perfectly.

The client is full of hot air. Simply bock him and walk away. 

Why are you even still communicating with him?

"Full of hot air" - I like that. 🙂



Petra R wrote:

Subodh S wrote:

Client is threatening to file a lawsuit against me & Upwork and blah blah blah. 


.... blah blah blah sums it up perfectly.

The client is full of hot air. Simply bock him and walk away. 

Why are you even still communicating with him?


I totally agree with you. I, unfortunately, belong to nice-people-tribe and I know that his developers would be struggling to figure things out without any handover from our side. I honestly shouldn't but I still feel like helping his developers, for a fee. Sorry, this is who I am.   🙂

JoanneP
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Subodh,

 

I checked your account, and see that our team is already assisting you on this ticket number: 30325205 and they have also updated the ticket to share more information. Please feel free to reply to the ticket if you have any questions. 

~ Joanne
Upwork


Joanne Marie P wrote:

Hi Subodh,

 

I checked your account, and see that our team is already assisting you on this ticket number: 30325205 and they have also updated the ticket to share more information. Please feel free to reply to the ticket if you have any questions. 


Legal lingo is total french to me. I've already reached out to my attorney for an advice. Thank you JM for checking-in.

varungs
Community Member

You can give him your lawyer's contact info, request him to communicate with you solely through your legal team, and remind him that any complaint will swiftly be met with a malicious prosecution filing 😛

Half-joking, but yeah, if you won in arbitration, it's very likely that you will also win in court. Let him sue. (He probably won't -- these are usually empty threats)


Varun G wrote:

You can give him your lawyer's contact info, request him to communicate with you solely through your legal team, and remind him that any complaint will swiftly be met with a malicious prosecution filing 😛

Half-joking, but yeah, if you won in arbitration, it's very likely that you will also win in court. Let him sue. (He probably won't -- these are usually empty threats)


True, VG. Thank you.

 

When case went into arbitration, I thought of getting some advice here. Browsed through some of the posts, reviewed Upwork & Escrow Terms carefully and figured that I could fight this Arbitration wihtout an attorney's help. Thankfully, all went well and I ddin't lose over $25k. 😉    

subodhsri2
Community Member

Strange enough, he sent me an email saying he is not threatening, BUT, he actually did by telling me that he will file a lawsuit in court and I will have to hire an attorney and visit Texas and it woud incur $15000, etc etc. 

 

I really need to get in touch with my attorney. 🙂 I was trying to avoid it. 

Yes, you should consult an attorney. For one thing, it seems unlikely to me that you're subject to a Texas court's jurisdiction, which would mean that you could get any case filed in Texas dismissed on those grounds. But, you'd need an attorney with full details to make that assessment, and perhaps to advise the client that any effort to sue you in Texas will be met with a jurisdictional challenge.


Tiffany S wrote:

Yes, you should consult an attorney. 


Sounds good, have gotten in touch with an attorney. 


Subodh S wrote:

Tiffany S wrote:

Yes, you should consult an attorney. 


Sounds good, have gotten in touch with an attorney. 


Good luck, Subodh.

 

Regardless of the outcome, I only hope that you're not considering leaving this platform. Upwork needs great professionals like you!

 


 

Regardless of the outcome, I only hope that you're not considering leaving this platform. Upwork needs great professionals like you!

 


Failure is not final and quitting is not an option in my dictionary. This platform has given me an identity and I'm glad to be able to help many great clients. 

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Subodh S.,

 

In the US, typically if two parties agree to use binding arbitration an important element of the arbitration agreement is that both sides acknowledge the arbitrator's ruling is final and binding on both parties.

 

"If arbitration is binding, both sides give up their right to an appeal. That means there is no real opportunity to correct what one party may feel is an erroneous arbitration decision."

 

https://www.allenandallen.com/arbitration-advantages-and-disadvantages/

 

Does the Upwork arbitration agreement specifically say the arbitrator's decision will be binding? I'd expect it does, but have never seen a copy.

 

It is apparently very rare for a US court to agree to hear a case where binding arbitration has been completed by the two parties, so any threats to the contrary are just hot air and bravado (or ignorance and wishful thinking).

 

Good luck!


Will L wrote:

Subodh S.,

 

In the US, typically if two parties agree to use binding arbitration an important element of the arbitration agreement is that both sides acknowledge the arbitrator's ruling is final and binding on both parties.

 

This is true, but it's not clear to me whether it would apply in this case or not, since the dispute and arbitration addressed only the one 30-day payment and not the entirety of the contract. Thus, there is likely only a ruling with regard to one small claim.

 

 so any threats to the contrary are just hot air and bravado (or ignorance and wishful thinking).

 

This is dangerously poor legal advice, offered with only a rudimentary understanding of the issue, and should not be relied upon. An attorney who has looked at Upwork's terms, any terms provided by the arbitrator and the content of the arbitration can provide reliable information on this issue.

 

 


 

Tiffany,

 

If you think anything written on an Internet message board constitures "legal advice" you apparently know as much about legal advice as you do about how escrow works.

 

In fact, my post contained no advice of any kind, legal or otherwise.

 

 


Will L wrote:

Tiffany,

 

If you think anything written on an Internet message board constitures "legal advice" you apparently know as much about legal advice as you do about how escrow works.

 

In fact, my post contained no advice of any kind, legal or otherwise.

 

 


You told the OP that he didn't need to worry about the client pursuing any type of legal claim because arbitration was conclusive. That was potentially false, and him listening to you could have been very harmful to him legally and financially.

 

You seem to be extremely confused about what constitutes legal advice (which is, of course, a legal issue--so you've AGAIN drawn a false legal conclusion and declared it as fact).

 

I am baffled by your deep and consistent commitment to creating huge problems for innocent strangers by making things up and authoritatively declaring them. I can never figure out if you just have broad-based ignorance or you are intentionally misleading people. Usually, I ignore it, due to your consistent juvenile responses like the one above. But, having seen the harm that bad legal advice from laypeople can do when I was practicing law, I have no tolerance for letting it lie just to avoid interaction with someone I don't like.


Will L wrote:

Subodh S.,

 

In the US, typically if two parties agree to use binding arbitration an important element of the arbitration agreement is that both sides acknowledge the arbitrator's ruling is final and binding on both parties.

 

"If arbitration is binding, both sides give up their right to an appeal. That means there is no real opportunity to correct what one party may feel is an erroneous arbitration decision."

 

https://www.allenandallen.com/arbitration-advantages-and-disadvantages/

 

Does the Upwork arbitration agreement specifically say the arbitrator's decision will be binding? I'd expect it does, but have never seen a copy.

 

It is apparently very rare for a US court to agree to hear a case where binding arbitration has been completed by the two parties, so any threats to the contrary are just hot air and bravado (or ignorance and wishful thinking).

 

Good luck!


This article and the link herein were helpful, Will. I contacted my attorney and she gave a very useful and sound advice. "Do not engage". 

I've learnt so much in past few weeks that I can easily grab a job as an attorney assistant should there be a need. LOL 

That's all very good to hear, Subodh.

 

I'm glad you were able to get helpful advice from a real attorney.

 

Good luck!

arjunagroupdotin
Community Member

Hello Subodh,

     Sorry for the pathetic situation.

Be ready to face alone, upwork will wash hands and talk about rules and regulations.

 

Freelancers are always in the back bench.

Recently i faced similar problem with unverified clients.  $600 balance not paid pluse after completing the jobwork got 5STAR rating.  client applies for refund and disappears.

 

Upwork wants me to pay back.  Ha Ha Ha.

 

Take care.


Ajay S wrote:

 

Recently i faced similar problem 

 No, you didn't. Your situation was entirely different.


Ajay S wrote:

 

Recently i faced similar problem with unverified clients.  $600 balance not paid pluse after completing the jobwork got 5STAR rating.  client applies for refund and disappears.

 

Upwork wants me to pay back.  Ha Ha Ha.

 

Take care.


I have been in your situation to be honest. Got a poor feedback despite providing a solution & code to client; also needed to issue a full refund. Going forward, we are trying to make sure we use automated logging of hours. That does help.

If Upwork can remind freelancers to not fall for any traps on a regular basis, that would be amazing.

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