bad customers and court cases - summary

[Jim Hickstein]

>     (b) The defendant with respect to the plaintiff's claim,
>     and a plaintiff with respect to a claim of the defendant,
>     may appeal the judgment to the superior court in the
>     county in which the action was heard.

But appelate courts only consider matters of law, not of fact.  The judge 
in the lower court has to have made a mistake (in someone's opinion). 
Without giving my own opinion on the facts, this one sounds straightforward 
as a matter of law.  IANAL, but it's sort of a hobby.

Prediction: Since the contract was so vague, having a consultant not give 
you access to your own systems (without regard to competence to overcome 
this, on either side) will seem to a layman (such as the judge) to be a 
reasonable basis for a complaint; the consultant will win a judgement 
entiting him to partial payment for partial completion of the work (the 
defendant's own assessment of how much his PhDs' time is worth will be 
heavily discounted); and he will never collect a dime.

I think I'd just write them a letter apologizing for the misunderstanding, 
and offering to take a partial payment in exchange for never darkening 
their door again.  It's likely to lose you fewer other customers.  (A 
negative customer tells ten prospects.)