North Carolina Business Litigation Legal Questions

This is probably not the answer you want but you really need to find a lawyer experienced in business dispute litigation to help you with this. Your facts do not suggest an easy answer.  Your recourse would depend on how the business organization was structured. In order to properly advise you of your rights and her obligations, it would be necessary to review the paperwork that you all signed when you entered into your partnership. If there are no formal papers such as corporate minutes, partnership agreement or operating agreement, it would be necessary to look at signature pages for the business' bank accounts, application for tax ID number, even emails and text messages.   With that information, your lawyer may be able to advise whether it makes sense to go to court to dissolve the businedd and/or to seek an accounting of the income and expenditures of the business. It may be that she has taken the assets of the business and has converted them to her own business. Again, this is an area where you need someone to advise you.  You should act without delay in contacting that lawyer. ... Read More

From what you've written, it appears that you won the motion, but that doesn't end the case.  Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was denied, but that doesn't mean that plaintiff can't prevail at a later stage of the case, like after trial.  Now there needs to be an order so stating. While I don't practice in North Carolina, this seems like circumstances with which I often deal, preparing an order for the Court to sign embodying its decision on a motion.  Presumably, since the Court is asking you to draft the order, it need only be a "short form order", basically reciting what the motion sought, what papers were submitted in support of and against the motion, when the motion was argued (if it was), and that the motion was denied.  You can probably find a form in a law library.  ... Read More

Assuming you have no non-compete provision in your employment contract with your former employer, it depends on whether the customer list is considered a trade secret or not.  Some customer lists are considered trade secrets, and some not.  It depends on factors such as whether the information was publicly available, the time, effort, and money expended by your former employer to put the list together, how extensive the list is (i.e. is it just name and number, or also contact person, preferences, ordering history, etc.), what efforts your former made to try to keep it secret, etc.  You are not allowed to misappropriate someone else's trade secret for you own use.  You also can't work for your own business on your employer's time; from what you've written you didn't do that, you downloaded the list for your employer's purposes and only decided to use it later, after you left.  But that may not be the way it looks to a neutral third party. I do think it is unusual for the police to be involved; the type of circumstances you describe are much more often the subject of a civil suit, in which you could be enjoined from using the list, and also have to disgorge any profits you made from the list.  Again, the key question is whether the list qualifies as a trade secret, which can't properly  be evaluated without a lot more facts. With all due respect, I think you were naive to think that your former employer would not challenge you because of the small size of your business.  If the customer list is a trade secret, it will only remain so if your former employer takes reasonably steps to protect it from use and disclosure by someone else.  If you allow someone to use your trade secret for free, you may waive trade secret protection.  Also, regardless of your small size, your former employer wants to send a message so that nobody else tries to do what you did.... Read More

It is difficult to tell you what attorney you would need based on your description.  It sounds as if you have been accused, by your former employer, of a crime.  If the police come to you, you should hire a criminal defense attorney.  If, however, she is just trying to sue you for money, you will need a civil defense attorney, or a litigator.  You should probably check with attorneys in your town to make a determination as to whom you should hire.  Hopefully you can get an attorney to agree to a free consultation, at which point you would want to take the letter you received from your former employer's attorney.  Good luck going forward.... Read More

You may want to consult directly with a local attorney to discuss the paperwork you have and to get additional information regarding your claim.  Not everything needs to be in writing - only certain types of agreements.  Oral agreements are enforceable, but are often difficult to prove.  I would suggest that you contact an attorney in your town and go from there.  Good luck.... Read More