jQuery .click() event.preventDefault() doesn't work

I'm building an extensible web application by putting scripts into a preset directory. The script needs to read the file header before going to the page, so I need to use .preventDefault() when I click the link and run some JScript first. Unfortunately I can't pass .preventDefault()

Here is my link format:

<a href="path/to/file.php" class="filelink">Some Text</a>

Here's the jQuery I'm trying to use to stop the default action:

    $( '.filelink' ).click( function( e ) {
        e.preventDefault();
        //do some other stuff here
    });

edit:

More information:

This <script>...</script>should be my footer. This function follows $(document).readya $.ajaxcall that builds a list of links that this function tries to listen for clicks.