Q: Is someone not registered as a business owner entitled to anything? We did not hire them.
Someone is threatening to take me to court over a business I am registered to as the owner. The other party was going to be added on as a part owner but the paperwork was never filed. Now we have decided not to work together. The other party wants money for the time spent helping the business during the time we were planning to add them. They want money from projects they did not help with and future projects recently booked without them. Now they are threatening to take us to court for half of everything. The business was originally registered and owned by my wife and I back in 2015. The third party came in 2017 and we were planning to rebrand and add them as a partner. There are plenty of facebook messages talking about plans and ideas for the business and how we would be partners but after some issues we no longer felt comfortable adding them to the business so we didn't. We don't have a contract and I would like to know what can be done or if they even have a solid case to sue.
A: I had a very similar case in Orlando a few years back. The parties were planning a joint venture, but it never went through. Unfortunately, my client made some verbal promises that the other party relied on and started moving forward as if they agreement had been made. My client didn't stop him even though he knew this was going on. Keep in mind that verbal contracts will be enforced if there is evidence (like some action being taken by the other party) that an agreement was made. This case will be highly dependent on the facts, so I recommend reviewing with a business attorney.
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