contract early termination?

[shadow]

i was doing sub contract work snow plowing a parking lot and salting. we had a contract between the two of us and he had a contract with the place of business. anyway they decided it was to expensive so they canceled their contract. they are going to have their son doing it.

the problem is i still have a contract with the contractor to handle the snow/ice at the location and i need to be released from liabilities from here on out. if someone slips or the new guy ruins the landscaping i can be held liable.

i need out of the contract and ive never had one cancel before so what is my course of action at this point?

[Steve B]

I'm not sure I understand the whole situation. I'm not quite sure who the players are and who decided it was too expensive. But it sounds like you just need someone to give you something in writing that they are cancelling the contract. Make sure it has an effective date on it and it is signed by the same person that signed the original contract you have.

[shadow]

I was getting work sub-contracted to me and the contractors customer canceled because it was too much money.

The contractor is suppose to be writing something up right now.

[orion_joel]

I would have thought that if the customer canceled his contract with the contractor you are doing the work for them they have released any liability. However in saying this the letter of the law can be a tricky thing. I would look to have the contract that you were working for release you from the contract between you and him as soon as possible, and maybe for piece of mind check it out with a lawyer to ensure you know what you are and are not liable for.

If you are ever unsure about a legal stand point while they may be costly the opinion of your lawyer is best as, should anything actually come up they would be the ones that are going to need to help you defend it.

[shadow]

the way i see it is as soon as i am released from the contract i am only now liable for activities performed while under contract.

my contract said i was responsible for landscape/turf damage and what we call in the industry curbing which is just damage to curbs. i left the place with NO damage and all liabilty in mind so whatever happens from the cancelled point on is not my responsibility.

[Spider]

This all depends entirely on the wording of the contract. "Being responsible for damage" and "Being responsible for damage that you caused" are, of course, entirely diferent things.

If your contract (the one you signed) is clear that you are only responsble for damage *you* caused, and you do not go on that site anymore, it would seem that you are in the clear.

One additional point - you give no information about the terms of the cancellation. A cancelled contract often provides some compensation to the injured party for that cancellation. If your subcontract provides for reimbursement for cancellation costs, you may be intitled to some payment.

[shadow]

This all depends entirely on the wording of the contract. "Being responsible for damage" and "Being responsible for damage that you caused" are, of course, entirely diferent things.

If your contract (the one you signed) is clear that you are only responsble for damage *you* caused, and you do not go on that site anymore, it would seem that you are in the clear.

One additional point - you give no information about the terms of the cancellation. A cancelled contract often provides some compensation to the injured party for that cancellation. If your subcontract provides for reimbursement for cancellation costs, you may be intitled to some payment.
i was just looking over my contract and the wording is alittle funky. i dont think it was done intentionallly but it does say i will be responsible for "any damage" not "any damage I caused". :mad:

if i have something written up to say "the contract is terminated and all liability from this point on will be released" should that be enough to cover me from here on out.

[shadow]

how about...

"So and so LLC terminates contract terms and agreements between so and so LLC and Terrapro(me) from this date on. All liability for serviced site from this date on will be released from Terrapro. So and so LLC agrees to remit balance to Terrapro for work performed."

[huggytree]

you may want to add something in your contract to cover yourself next time. Maybe use the words 'contract can only be canceled in writing-no verbal cancelation is accepted'

have a form all setup for this and give the contractor a copy to keep on file to use when needed....spend the time now and save the time later because im sure it will happen again and again.

id like a copy from the actual owner of the property if it were me.

[Spider]

i was just looking over my contract and the wording is alittle funky. i dont think it was done intentionallly but it does say i will be responsible for "any damage" not "any damage I caused". :mad:
if i have something written up to say "the contract is terminated and all liability from this point on will be released" should that be enough to cover me from here on out.
"Any damage" would mean any damage caused by you or anyone else (unless other wording in the contract says otherwise.) So, I interpret that as saying, as long as your contract is still in operation, if the owner hired someone else who went onto that site and did some damage, you would be responsible. So, you need to make sure your contract is no longer in operation. If you have received notice from the contractor that the contract is terminated, I would think that sufficient to protect you. You should have that notice in writing.

A written notice, letter, saying the contract is terminated from a given date should be sufficient, I would think. The added wording you suggest may be useful or not. Once the contract is terminated, all the clauses end, so there doesn't seem to me to be any need to refer to any particular clause.

If the date of termination was earlier than the date of the notice, the notice should state the earlier date. In any case, the notice should be clear as to when exactly the contract ended. Best to have a date and time, but that might be a bit picky.

I should add that, while I have had some extensive experience with law of contract, I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice (which is why I said "seems to me" and "I would think," etc.) It seems a fairly simple matter to me, but if you are at all concerned about future liability, you would be wise to have an attorney check it over. If you are only talking about a few yards of common grass that could be damaged, it might not be worth the expense, but if there are some especially exotic and expensive plantings that could be damaged, the expense of an attorney would be good insurance.