Legal Advice for Business

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sue97

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Hi,

I am running a small home based business and have a question about a contract I have with a supplier (namely how to get out of it).

Can anyone recommend a business solicitor who would be able to help and not too expensive.

I would imagine the issue is fairly black and white.

Thanks
 
Possibly should have mentioned its a contract with a US based Chinese company I am refering to
 
Sue - I'm not a solicitor, but a lot of business contracts don't need to go down this route.

Can you summarise the main parts of the contract? For example:
- brief description of the type of goods or service
- who is your contract with: agent or original supplier?
- the term (duration - when signed, when due to end)?
- the termination clause (does one or both parties have 'free termination')?
- minimum commitment (e.g. do you have to buy X volume or y dollars per month? Is this based on variable forecast, or minimum guarantee?)
- what is the governing law (e.g. Ireland or US)?

If you want, send me a PM with the details of the contract?

Bob
 
Just for the record, one of the great strengths of Askaboutmoney.com is that all advice given is subject to scrutiny of all readers. If I make a mistake, there will be somebody ready to correct me. When you give/take advice by PM, you lose this great facility.
 
Valid point.

Here is the pm I sent

Hi,

I resell equipment from one manufacturer and when I started signed a contract which has an exclusivity agreement that also stipulates that I cannot sell any other suppliers equipment that does the same job for a year after termination of the contract.

The contract is automatically renewed each year.

I signed and faxed it to them not witnessed which could possibly make it void.

Anyway, they have changed from a low cost product to a high end product and their prices to me have doubled and in some cases increased five times. A lot of the details of the way they deal with distributors have changed and I want to use this opportunity to get out of original contract and not sign another.

I am just not sure of the legal situation and can't afford a law suit with a large organisation.

I have already sent them an email saying that I can't sell at these prices unless I offer it as a high end product and sell something else as a low end and am awaiting a proposal from them.

I just want to know the legal implications so I am confident responding.

I assume the agreement is governed by US law.

Sorry if this is very long winded
 
I've no legal expertise on these matters, but I'm just wondering if there were any conditions around the exclusivity agreement, e.g. was it dependant on continued supply or continued performance on their side? If not, it may be difficult to impose such conditions (which is what it seems you are trying to do) retrospectively.
 
RainyDay is right... PM isn't the spirit here...

...however, it would be good to actually see the contract.

Sue - is it possible for you to actually copy/paste the wording of the contract (and block out any sensitive info such as company names and price etc.)? Sometimes it's necessary to see the actual wording to make a call on it.

If you can't copy/paste the contract, then I think this thread could end up being very long, or might give advice without seeing all the info.

By far, one of the best commercial solicitors in my experience is a partnership called McAuley Graham (phone: 01-6610008). I'd strongly recommend them... but would have no idea on the price they would charge. They're not one of the big guns so might have a reasonable pricing structure.

Bob
 
Thanks, might give them a shout and go from there. Thanks all for the support. I don't want to send the contract as it may identify the people to themselves and I have not told them I want out.
 
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