QUESTION
Can I go after a company in which i invested money into?
Asked on Jul 31st, 2017 on Business Litigation - California
More details to this question:
The company was a transportation business. I approached the owners because they were interested in getting more fleet, vans to be exact. They were to take the funds and purchase the van(s) and add it on to their company. The agreement was to pay me 50% of the profit after employees and maintenance. It was doing well until one of the owners who was doing the payouts, began to become behind. After constantly reminding her of the late payments and back tracking what was owed. I asked for my contract and it was never produced. Phone calls and email communication slowed to a halt. Then all of a sudden the owner says the company is operating in the red, so I ask for invoices showing such, so I can at least see proof. That was never produced. I invested 14,000 dollars. No one will return my calls or they'll give the run around or just flat out ignore me. The way I was just cut off seems malice and intentional. I want to sue them or make an attempt in a demand for my investment back.
1 ANSWER
3 Awards
I'm not sure what you meant about "ask[ing] for the contract." Do you have a written contract in your possession? You should have gotten their signature on it back when you reached the agreement. Also, "50% of the profit" is a difficult figure. About 30 years ago, the columnist Art Buckwald reached an agreement for 10% of the profits of the movie "Coming to America," which was a box office smash. However, according to the studio, it didn't make any money, because the studio assigned much of its overhead to that one movie. If the company is truly NOT making money, then the company has a valid defense that there are no profits.
A lawyer is going to be reluctant to take this case. Besides the weaknesses above, it would be almost impossible to take this case to trial for less than $14,000, and unless there is a prevailing party attorneys' fee clause in the contract, a lawyer could easily charge more than this case is worth to you. You might want to consider filing suit in small claims court (where there are no lawyers allowed), for the maximum of $10,000, rather than getting into a case in which the other side could hire an attorney.
Answered on Aug 01st, 2017 at 2:27 PM
This answer does not mean I am your lawyer. No attorney-client relationship exists. This response is for general information only.