Hello netizens. Came about this active website and thought would post my query and seek some initial help.

I’ve been a graphic designer working as employee and entrepreneur for many known ad agencies and dot coms and also clients by myself since last 9 years.

Recently, one of my clients back-lashed with a (well-surprising) legal notice via a advocate stating my (and my colleague) as unprofessionals - and seeking for business damages due to time delays and non-delivery caused by us.

While am very clear its just a “scare” note trying to recover some of their own losses (as the involved client had many and easy legal associates to help + the advocate shares same surname with my client), i would still want to respond back legally stating my observations and stand-point regarding their allegation. Got enough emails, documents, heaps of designed files and conversations to cover all their concerns.

What scares me is their audacity to go ahead with something like this:

They started off as mutual friends (via this colleague of mine), admired my work, got free work done about 5 months prior to get investors, got happy results and investor too, got me to take up their work (signed NDA) and in spite of me sitting at home with a fractured leg, got to be happy and excited with all my initial work, later, sweet talked me back into the project midway when i gave up on their demands and unrealistic views, and then still continuing to fail to deliver, they finally give up on me and asked for all open working files to take things ahead. I gave away twice the amount of work i did for half its price in time. Not to mention some money rightfully got distributed to the contributors who worked for it from my end. All this, being in right mind about the project you’re into, which was a data intensive website construction - which isn’t run by labor time-linked work - neither by few strokes of brush - but intense knowledge and know how of the medium and industry. The client clearly lacked the vision to make something of this magnitude and committed false and unrealistic timelines to themselves and their investor (or vice versa).

Now, their stated legal notice puts me under criminal act (trust and cheating), alleged as breaching client’s trust and non-fulfillment. The threat concludes as me (and my colleague) to pay up the advance sum and damages(2x) or else “Civil and Criminal Prosecution” will be done against us.

As it seems, am half aghast and half chuckled towards their behavior. While I don’t want to treat this lightly at the same time don’t like to play legal notice business, am going to ask you’ll to draw up a conclusions for me. I can write more about my case if it would help evaluate things.

I would also be glad to find someone at this forum itself, who could be based out of Mumbai, and help me out professionally through this ball of mess.

Written lots. Thank you much for reading. And really thankful to this wonderful forum and looking forward to some enlightening.

Best regards, Amit, Mumbai.