Deepak was a freelance content writer from Mumbai. In March 2019, Techno Private Limited hired Deepak for a three-month assignment on car racing.
Once Deepak completed the assignment, he raised an invoice for three lakh rupees. His contract mandated that Deepak get paid within 30 days of raising his invoice. But Techno informed Deepak that they would only be able to pay him by October.
However, when Techno hadn’t paid him by November 2019, Deepak began sending them daily reminders. Eventually, the staff at Techno stopped responding to Deepak’s calls and emails.
With seemingly no other option, Deepak hired a lawyer and filed a case in Court. The Court eventually ordered Techno to pay Deepak the money due to him, and an additional one lakh as damages. However, the court fees and legal costs involved meant that he recovered only two lakhs, not four.
Had Deepak ensured that his contract with Techno included an arbitration clause, he would have recovered his money in a fraction of the time.
Disclaimer: All characters and names are fictional. This is a public interest story, produced by House Court, an online arbitration platform
