Also, forget about any lawyer taking this on a contingency basis. Any competent lawyer is going to require a retainer and will bill you on an hourly basis. This is not a personal injury case.
Assuming you hire a lawyer, the one thing you can do to save your lawyer time and save you money is to write out, in as detailed a manner as possible, exactly what your agreement was with the guy who is screwing you. Write this out in the form of a contract, as if your original agreement had been reduced to writing. Gather together all writings which have any relevance to your business dealings with this guy and write down, as best as you can recollect, every conversation that you had with this guy concerning your dealing. If you have had any past busines dealing with this guy, that would also be relevant.
Oral contracts are generally enforceable, but the burden would be on you to establish all the terms of this oral agreement.
