[consulting] Unsigned Contract Breach Question

[Jeff Greenberg]

In my experience a verbal commitment can only stand as a contract if you have specifically clarified that the person making the verbal commitment is in a position to authorize work to begin without any further approval.

On Mar 14, 2013, at 9:34 AM, ALLAHBAKASH ALLAHBAKASH <allahbakash2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Do one thing consult the authority who sent the above said document
> tell him to clarify or sign
> 
> On 3/14/13, Sam Cohen <sam at samcohen.com> wrote:
>> 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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