Friday Harbor, WA asked in Business Law, Civil Litigation and Contracts for Washington

Q: Lawyer/Business owner lied to us when we sold a business, and is trying to con us. What should we do?

Spouse and I sold a business to a lawyer and his friend. They retained us as independent contractors, and told us we could re-integrate as owners, and, have profit sharing. Three years later, neither is true after we have brought it to his attention multiple times. Now he tell us to wait longer for the business to grow and buy small portions of the stock at an enormous rate. He also has been bullying my co-founder on charging the actual time we spend on the company, so we charge an artificially lower rate. We also only work on this and take a massive tax burden, even though she is treated more as an employee than a contractor. He first made the assertion in 2016, when we said we would continue as co-owners, he said he was open to it, and maintained that stance for next next few years. He started by telling us we could make our first million, and now it's you guys can make a "living wage". What can we do about this? He has been conning us.

1 Lawyer Answer

A: I am guessing that you and your spouse did not have a lawyer to advise you when selling your small business to a lawyer and his friend; am I right? If so, then take the money you saved by not hiring a lawyer when you should have, add several more thousands of dollars to it and then go hire a lawyer to fix the problems you and your spouse created.

If not, then call your lawyer and get him involved immediately--before you lose everything you worked hard for.

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