Can I release something I paid for, but didn't write?

[arossphoto]

I paid a programmer almost a $1000 to develop a custom member portfolio system that is integrated with vB. Unfortunately, he took my money, delivered a product that is unfinished with a few bugs, and refuses to offer any further support or assistance in getting it finished and working properly.

I've posted about this in a few other places in these forums and an admin recently suggested that I try releasing it as a beta in the hopes that some people might get involved and help to fix the bugs and turn it into a valuable product for other members.

I have no problems making it available for free, and it is working pretty well with a just few small glitches that bother me enough that I haven't made it available to my members yet. But is it really okay for me to release this if I can't provide any support for it? I own the code and have the right to do whatever I want with it and the programmer confirmed this in writing stating "This is a private project, and whatever i make will be yours."

Any advice would be much appreciated. If anybody is interested you can see a demo of the project at the url below. It is set up for photographers, but I think it could be useful for other things as well. You can add more categories and sub-categories, and can customize the nearest major cities, provinces/states, etc.

http://www.canphoto.net/forums/portfolio_directory.php

Cheers,

Andrew