Anyone know of a Contractor sued by an Agency or Client, ever?

[mdw]

Has anyone ever heard of an IT contractor being sued (excluding early termination disputes) by a client? or Agency? EVER?

Just curious, and can't find anything searching, but I've been contracting a long time and never heard of a single case.

My experiences are clients and agents wouldn't ever bother: cost, time, bad publicity, unable to prove, reveal incompetent agents and/or clients, etc.

[northernladuk]

But do you feel lucky punk?

[Andy Hallett]

Yes, but very rare.

[WTFH]

Which insurance are you talking about?
Do you have house insurance, or is that a con too?
What experiences do you actually have in business to business transactions?

[SueEllen]

If you know the cost of policies of those who work in the building trade and anything about insurance you would realise most IT workers who work in an office have cheap policies as we are considered low risk. However low risk doesn't mean no risk.

The different insurance you need are business insurance on your car*, public indemnity insurance, professional liability insurance and employers liability insurance. I've placed these in order of risk of claiming which is linked to their price per million pounds of cover.

So you are more likely to be involved in a car accident or have your car damaged travelling to and from a client site, than having one of your subcontractor's injure themselves.

In regards to professional indemnity insurance - I don't know IT contractors who have been sued but I do know those who have had to pay clients' back money or haven't been paid due to the proven quality of their work e.g. they didn't do any and had multiple people confirmed it. In the case where these contractors had been paid if they didn't have the money they would have had to rely on their insurance policies.

*I've been asked by some clients' whether I've had business insurance on my car even if the site I'm on I use public transport to get there, as it it is their general policy to check these things.

[mdw]

If you know the cost of policies of those who work in the building trade and anything about insurance you would realise most IT workers who work in an office have cheap policies as we are considered low risk. However low risk doesn't mean no risk.

The different insurance you need are business insurance on your car*, public indemnity insurance, professional liability insurance and employers liability insurance. I've placed these in order of risk of claiming which is linked to their price per million pounds of cover.

So you are more likely to be involved in a car accident or have your car damaged travelling to and from a client site, than having one of your subcontractor's injure themselves.

In regards to professional indemnity insurance - I don't know IT contractors who have been sued but I do know those who have had to pay clients' back money or haven't been paid due to the proven quality of their work e.g. they didn't do any and had multiple people confirmed it. In the case where these contractors had been paid if they didn't have the money they would have had to rely on their insurance policies.

*I've been asked by some clients' whether I've had business insurance on my car even if the site I'm on I use public transport to get there, as it it is their general policy to check these things.

When I was contracting in Oz, PI was over £2000 per year.

[mdw]

I shouldnt have also mentioned insurance. Derrr.

[SueEllen]

When I was contracting in Oz, PI alone was over £2000 per year.

What industry do you work in?

Do you touch live systems?

[WTFH]

When I was contracting in Oz, PI was over £2000 per year.

This is a UK forum. How much are you paying for contracting in UK/Europe?

Beer in Japan is expensive. That doesn't mean beer around the world is expensive or that beer companies are fleecing everyone around the world.
If your experience is limited to one country, then your experience is, um, limited.

[mdw]

What industry do you work in?

Do you touch live systems?

It was a greenfield payment system for a govt dept. They demanded it, but none of the banks I where worked on live internet banking development ever asked for it.

If anything went wrong anyway, it would really either be down to the testers, or manager who signed off on it.