A bit of background: someone translated his book (technical book) into English in response to a US publisher’s solicitation of the translation. He sent the translation to the publisher, who sent him back the contract to sign. The signed contract was sent back to the publisher and a countersigned copy was never sent back. The book was published, and the publisher later claimed that sales were poor that’s why the author was not paid. The author let it go. That was in the 90s.
The author now finds that there were four editions of the book published since, including e-book and paperback. Communications to the publisher are unanswered.
The author asked me to find him an attorney in the US to pursue the matter. What kind of attorney would be the one to contact?
My first thought was to recommend someone who specializes in intellectual property, but on reflection I think this is more of a standard contract case. That might be the place to start, and then let a contract lawyer determine if it’s an IP case.
Am I correct in presuming that contract law type of attorney would not take this on a contingency basis? And would the attorney have to be in the state where the publisher is located?
Start with the States’ Bar Association … typically they maintain a referral list of qualified lawyers and can help choosing the correct type of lawyer for the case in question … they may also have information of which lawyers will work on commission or pro bono …
Contingent fees are not prohibited in contract cases, and many contract lawyers do take cases on contingency. If Coca-Cola is suing a supplier for breach of contract, its attorneys are unlikely to be on a contingency fee agreement, but for small businesses and individuals contingent fees are often the only reasonable method of retaining a lawyer.
Where the lawyer needs to be licensed depends on where the contract arose. Most likely it depends on where the author was at the time the contract was signed, but since this is basically an estoppel case there are nuances to it. Certainly filing in the publisher’s home state is a good way to avoid jurisdictional arguments later, and it presumably makes little difference to the author since he’s not in the US anyway.
There is a chance the author is entitled to sue in his own country, incidentally.
Thanks to all that responded, good info. I will call the bar association in the publisher’s state to see whom they can recommend…