Without a signed contract your claim becomes more difficult to collect but certainly not impossible. You have what is called an unjust enrichment claim. An unjust enrichment claim is an equitable claim.
An Unjust Enrichment claim says that even if there wasn’t a formal agreement (say because the price was not agreed to, or some other material term might have been missing that makes a Breach of Contract claim unsuccessful) you should still get paid for the reasonable value of your services because:
(1) the defendant requested services from you, (2) you relied upon that request, (3) the defendant knew you were performing services and (4) the defendant has retained the benefit of those services without paying you, and (5) as such as been unjustly enriched at your expense.
Unlike in a Breach of Contract claim, with Unjust Enrichment you have to show the reasonable value of the services performed. This means showing that your price and time spent were both reasonable under the circumstances. This is a more difficult task than a breach of contract claim but not impossible.
You will have to prove:
- the services you performed,
- the time spent,
- value of that time, and
- expenses incurred on behalf of your client or customer.
- correspondence proving that the customer/client requested services
- correspondence from you indicating the services, results, or goals you agreed to perform/achieve.
- correspondence indicating you expected to get paid for performing services etc.
- Time cards, invoices, statements indicating the services performed and time spent providing those services.
- Any document indicating why those services were necessary or beneficial for the client/customer
- Any document indicating that the customer/client received those services — and benefitted from those services.
