Contract is one month of monthly savings made in AWS bill.
They have not paid, and in fact terminated the contract early to avoid payment - "the savings do not occur until AWS reservations end, contract has been ended now, so savings have not occurred". The savings are going to occur, and then the client will keep those savings.
Turns out the contract also contains what looks like a poison pill, to prevent the counter-party (me) having recourse to court at all, no matter what the client does.
Also the entire contract is confidential, so I in theory can't say a word about any of it.
Maybe you already considered this, but contracts are full of unenforceable and illegal clauses. At the end of the day you did work for them that they agreed to and then they stiffed you on it in a very visible way. Generally, if the work is already done, they are liable for the entire amount.
I would be talking to a lawyer. You might even consider it part of your job to have a working relationship with a lawyer.
Just worked for six months for a client.
Contract is one month of monthly savings made in AWS bill.
They have not paid, and in fact terminated the contract early to avoid payment - "the savings do not occur until AWS reservations end, contract has been ended now, so savings have not occurred". The savings are going to occur, and then the client will keep those savings.
Turns out the contract also contains what looks like a poison pill, to prevent the counter-party (me) having recourse to court at all, no matter what the client does.
Also the entire contract is confidential, so I in theory can't say a word about any of it.