Table of Contents
There are two basic situations when you may wish to withdraw from an assignment. Voluntarily or involuntarily:
Voluntarily
You find that there is no benefit for either party in continuing, so you both agree to terminate. This could be because there are changes to requirements; skills needed or scope a re-organisation or take-over and so on.
Involuntarily
- Your client severs the assignment because there is no longer the trust, or you do the same. For example, either of you may believe that the other party has not observed any condition of confidentiality”
- One of you commits a breach of contract e.g. “statutory or other reasonable rules and regulations applicable to them while performing the service”:
- You are prevented from performing or have been “frustrated”
- You or your client becomes bankrupt or has a receiving order or administrative order made against;
- You just detest each other so much.
- It is defined as a Severable Contracts anyway
You should usually try to save the relationship but if it does all go wrong then you have seven specific remedies.
- Rescission.
- Damages.
- Enforcement for Specific Performance.
- Injunction
- Quantum Merult
- Claims in Quasi-Contract
- Extinction”
Summary
It really is your job to try to reach an acceptable agreement and you will certainly need paying for the work completed so far. To ensure this is done you might need some formal Verification of the execution of the assignment or “engagement”
- Did you provide what you could provide satisfactorily and in accordance with the agreed requirement?
You could argue that failure to verify execution in writing does not affect the Client’s obligation to pay your charges.
Whatever happens in a “withdrawal” make sure that you give (or receive) notice in writing