[consulting] Unsigned Contract Breach Question

[Sam Cohen]

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has experience with something like this.

A client who is the head of a branch of a large institution gave the go
ahead for a very big project.  I supplied the SOW and they supplied the
contract that I was given to sign.  Now because of the size of this
institution, sometimes it takes weeks to get a signed contract back.  And
in this case after three weeks I heard back that someone over the head of
the person I was dealing with changed their mind and they've decided to go
another way.

So for over three weeks I've been committed, turned down another job
because I wasn't available, and had secured other people to work on that
job, who may have also turned down work.

While I'm guessing their is no legal recourse here, because I didn't have a
signed contract, I'm just curious is there's such a thing as an implied
contract -- after all, they gave it to me, I signed it and was not free to
take other work.

I realize we're not attorneys here, just curious if this has happened to
anyone?  Is it even legal to ask someone to sign a contract, but take weeks
to come back with an answer?

Thanks,
Sam

<http://twitter.com/samcohen>
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