You are the manager for Swift Shipping (SS), and one of your customers, Vicki Vegetable (VV), and you had a horrible contract experience. VV demanded immediate shipment of a package and your driver, Tammy Teenager (TT) got pulled over for speeding before she could deliver the shipment. The shipment was drugs, TT got arrested, and you didn't get paid for the shipment. (Note: the manager and driver are not doing anything illegal in this scenario.)

You are still recovering from last week's debacle. VV is on the phone, on hold. You are too distraught to take the call, and you instruct TT to take it for you . . .

"Hey, I'm sorry about how that shipment went down. Let me make it up to you. I feel bad about you getting pulled over. How about I pay half of what I was supposed to?"

TT agrees, VV says, "Great, meet my niece, Nellie Notsosmart (NN), in Chicago tomorrow. She'll give you what's coming to you."

TT meets NN in Chicago. Instead of cash, NN gives TT a contract VV has with Charlie Contractor (CC). NN crosses out all the VV references and puts TT's initials in instead. "There, now you'll get your money from CC," NN says. CC was building an office building for VV, and now is building it for you. Once done, the company will have a nice, new office building you can rent or sell."

"Not so fast," CC says. CC has run into a lot of permit and construction trouble and needs more money to keep working. "No money, no more work," says CC.

TT tells you what she has done. Call the company's lawyer, and tell her the issues you think you need her help to address.