Get some correct legal advise. No matter how well intentioned the forum is unless the law is behind you It'll be useless for you if you have to take the people to a court or if you are taken to court. It sounds like you've invested a great deal of money into all the work so a solid investment in legal advice will hopefully bring its reward.
I always find it funny (and I'm guilty of it too) how in various professions we complain about amateurs making a mess of jobs and how people should go to them rather than trying to do it themselves, but when it comes to designing websites or business cards we'd rather do it ourselves.
think it's fairly universal!
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them in to the impossible."