[consulting] Unsigned Contract Breach Question

[Joel Willers]

I took a business law class a LONG time ago, but in that class, if you made an offer and it was accepted, you didn't have to accept it, too. It was your offer. Your offer was accepted, so it's a done deal. I'm not a lawyer, of course, but that's what I was told. /shrug

Joel 


From: consulting-bounces at drupal.org [mailto:consulting-bounces at drupal.org] On Behalf Of Sam Cohen
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:24 AM
To: A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers
Subject: [consulting] Unsigned Contract Breach Question

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