Sole Trader Threatened with legal action

alc88

I am being threatened by a client with legal action unless I pay her £5k. I am a sole trader web designer and recently suffered post natal depression and during this time my work was effected.

Her website was built in 2016 and the domain name transferred to me by her previous company. In Nov 2016 it was renewed for one year along with her website hosting and general maintenance. In November 2017 the domain name etc was due for renewal again, but at the time I was suffering from Post Natal depression and was looking to reduce my workload. As the client had been somewhat difficult I decided not to offer a renewal on her service, but being unwell at the time, it slipped my mind to email her. In January she contacted me to transfer the domain to her and I agreed, emailing the registration company to initiate the transfer. Little did I realise that the email the transfer was requested from was unmonitored and therefore did not reach the registration company. Assuming the transfer was simply in progress, I did nothing further. Later in January the domain name was put back on the open market and someone else purchased it. She is now blaming me for losing the domain name. Although I know morally I should have made her aware in November and it was an error on my part in January to transfer it, I wondered where I stand legally. We had no written contract as such - only email conversations and an invoice for the annual hosting which covered Nov 16 - Nov 17. The domain name was also in my name, so legally I owned it and was therefore mine to transfer or not - I'm unsure where I stand. She says she has lost out on hundreds of thousands of pounds and is asking a nominal fee of 5K to settle ourselves on the advice of a solicitor. I checked her company on companies house, which states it has been dissolved, so how can she lose business from a company that's not operating? Can anyone help?

Comms69

Did she pay you to do anything post Nov 17?

alc88

No the agreement was for me to maintain her website and domain name up t Nov 17.

Comms69

alc88 wrote: »

No the agreement was for me to maintain her website and domain name up t Nov 17.

So she never 'bought' the domain from you. In which case I think her case is substantially weaker

Carer

I think £5k is generous on her part. If I were you I'd pay up and consider that I'd got off lightly.

She paid you to host and maintain her website on an ongoing basis.

Whether or not you decided not to continue, she would have expected you to either tell her you weren't continuing or continue the service and invoice her for the next year at some point. When she asked you to transfer the domain why did you not do it properly, surely if this is your field of expertise you should have at least done that properly? I'm afraid your illness is totally irrelevent here, you have let her down badly and almost certainly caused the collapse of her business. Why would you think she doesn't have a case?

If my hosting company decided to pull the plug without telling me, losing me my domain names and therefore causing the shutdown of a business worth 6 figures per year I would sue them for every penny.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but from a business owner's viewpoint you have royally screwed her.

alc88

She hasn't proven that her business earns this much - the fact that her company was dissolved last year before all this happened makes no sense.

I work on an annual basis, and therefore she only paid me for that year. Yes I should have let her know, but my mental state at the time meant that I wasn't working to full capacity - I do believe that a mental illness is rather relevant IMO - perhaps you need to experience the trauma to appreciate it's debilitating nature.

I completely understand her POV from a business perspective - but I wondered what the legal standing was considering I wasn't 'contracted' to do anything beyond Nov 17.

In regards to transferring the domain - I believed I had responded properly. I replied to the registration companies request to transfer, however I later found out that the email was unmonitored. Genuinely assuming it was in progress, I assumed they were taking the necessary steps.

Comms69

alc88 wrote: »

She hasn't proven that her business earns this much - the fact that her company was dissolved last year before all this happened makes no sense.

I work on an annual basis, and therefore she only paid me for that year. Yes I should have let her know, but my mental state at the time meant that I wasn't working to full capacity - I do believe that a mental illness is rather relevant IMO - perhaps you need to experience the trauma to appreciate it's debilitating nature. - Legally its not relevant though.

I completely understand her POV from a business perspective - but I wondered what the legal standing was considering I wasn't 'contracted' to do anything beyond Nov 17.

In regards to transferring the domain - I believed I had responded properly. I replied to the registration companies request to transfer, however I later found out that the email was unmonitored. Genuinely assuming it was in progress, I assumed they were taking the necessary steps.

It's a difficult one, on the one hand £5k is a lot of money, but on the other, it's less than she'd get IF she could prove the loss of the website was the sole or main reason her business went bust.


In other words, how much of a loss can be attributed to you and can be proven?

alc88

I believe her business was dissolved before this began.

Pennywise

Surely this is one you need to pass on to your business insurers to deal with?

Pennywise

alc88 wrote: »

I believe her business was dissolved before this began.

Are you sure she wasn't trading as a sole trader at the time. Nothing to stop her carrying on her business as a sole trader if she decided to strike off her limited company. The fact that a limited company has been dissolved doesn't mean much really without knowledge of the full facts.

alc88

In fact it was dissolved in 2009 I have just found out ... unless she is now freelance herself...