legal help please - Page 2

stealthn · 03-18-2009, 07:24 PM

a lady came in and told my wife that kim said she is saying we did not pay her for the store and that we are disshonest people, or something along those lines.

This is slander and grounds right there. Call the People's Court, they pay you to go on...

Good Luck

Eric 951 · 03-19-2009, 06:35 AM

That e-mail was hilarious---anyone who refers to seeking the counsel of their pastor over business issues, and writes they had to "pray" over sending an e-mail is usually a hypocrite. Her holier than thou stance only makes her appear to be more guilty.

Sever ties with this woman at all costs--have your wife get her face and store out in the public eye--resist mudslinging or badmouthing the former owner--which in this case would be really hard to do. Have your wife's actions speak for her, when people interact with her and see for themselves that she is kind and honest, they will be less likely to believe the lies being spread by the former owner.
Based upon the behavior you describe, this may not be the first time this "Godly" woman acted like a jerk.

T77911S · 03-19-2009, 06:35 AM

i will talk to the police next week.

i am sure sooner or later someone will come in with either an email or they will testify she said something bad about us, it is just a matter of time.

T77911S · 03-19-2009, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric 951

That e-mail was hilarious---anyone who refers to seeking the counsel of their pastor over business issues, and writes they had to "pray" over sending an e-mail is usually a hypocrite. Her holier than thou stance only makes her appear to be more guilty.

Sever ties with this woman at all costs--have your wife get her face and store out in the public eye--resist mudslinging or badmouthing the former owner--which in this case would be really hard to do. Have your wife's actions speak for her, when people interact with her and see for themselves that she is kind and honest, they will be less likely to believe the lies being spread by the former owner.
Based upon the behavior you describe, this may not be the first time this "Godly" woman acted like a jerk.

if nothing else you guys are getting a good laugh, thats ok,

we have not gotten into talking bad about her except to people that already know whats going on, but this has been for advice, not to put her down. like our landlord, he has helped us out a lot, we have also helped him too. we have showed the emails to him and one or 2 other business owners in the complex to ask advice. they were the ones that told us the bogus emails were done by kim and that was when we had it traced. we dont spread our business to anyone that walks in (just all over the world now).

kim is doing classes at AC moore. the girl that does classes for us has a friend or relative that is the manager there. our girl called and asked if she could "warn" her friend about kim. we ok'ed it as long as it was just a "watch out for yourself" thing and to keep an ear open for saying something bad about us, but she does not know details about all this.

there are serveral people in line trying to collect money from her, the landlord is one, there is a hotel here she owes money to and a company she bought product from. we are also letting our suppliers know we are the new owners and kim is no longer part of the store.

i just talked to the wife again about us oweing her anything just to make sure we can have a clear conscience about this whole thing. my wife says she never asked kim to order anything for us, although we do have some of the left over stuff in our store. the order was placed the day after we bought the store. even though kim has lied and cheated us, i dont want to do the same to her. we have made one offer for her to take the product, should we offer again or just pay her.

Rot 911 · 03-19-2009, 08:20 AM

Hate to say this, but you brought this upon yourself. It is obvious from what you have posted that there were/are no clear contract terms for the sale of the business to you and your wife. A small amount of money spent with a business attorney could have saved you a bunch of grief now.

And forget about the libel and slander charges. Nothing that you have posted will lead to much of anything in court.

T77911S · 03-19-2009, 08:44 AM

i hate to hear it

nieve in the business world and too trusting. its like buying a new car. you are all excited, then you get it home and start noticing the little dings and scratches.

we/she had a kids clothing resale shop. we sold it a few years ago. we ran into the new owner this morning at breakfast. we get along great. in fact, my wife is trying to help him buy stock from our landlord that was left behind by another business. before the people abandoned the business, my wife got a friend to come help, just for gas money, my wife and this other lady rearange the store so it might do better. all while we are trying to clean up our store.

Eric 951 · 03-19-2009, 08:59 AM

Based upon what you have posted so far--it may be in the best interest of the business to change the name and stress the new ownership angle. The previous owner may have aleinated past customers through strange/boorish behavior. Upon seeing a new name/owner, folks may be inclined to give the "new" business a second chance.

T77911S · 03-19-2009, 09:16 AM

i thought about the name change, but that is really all we bought.
the business has been open for quite a while (her husband was the one that really kept it running).
so the web site has been out there and phone number and hopefully a good reputation for quite a while. i realize the suppliers and other business owners may know the "real" kim, but we hope the customers dont. after all, my wife was a customer and did not know the real kim.
we can restore our/the store name if we just get the chance. we are already doing that. other business owners in the complex have told us good things they have heard from customers.

PorscheGAL · PorscheGAL's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWebb

Did you buy the business? Or did you just buy the storefront or something.

Normally, when you buy the whole business, you have bought not just their assets (goods, stock, etc.) but also their liabilities (i.e. outstanding gift coupons and other debt).

An atty will need to read the entire sales contract and see what is what.

Did you change the name of the store? Legally change it I mean, not just put up a new sign.

Actually as long as you are incorporated under a different name but DBA the store name you are not liable for any of their debts.

Most purchase contracts for businesses have a clause state that the seller has to disclose everything including the gift certificates. The seller can be held financially liable for the gift certificates.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

ok - guess we need to find out if it is "inc"

I assumed it is a sole proprietorship....

and IS there any written contract? sales "agreement"?

T77911S · 03-21-2009, 07:30 AM

here is todays email from the witch. this one has just flat out pissed me off. i have had enough and this has to end.

Hi,
I thought that I would let you know that Linda filed a report with the BBB and I have seen a couple of posts on message boards that tourists read. This can wreck your summer season. My offer is still good. Of course, my attorney thinks I'm crazy for offering this! I think it will be a lot easier and better for you than loosing customers and the bad publicity that this can cause because scrappers read those boards and with the reservations being down so bad, you are going to need every tourist that you can get. It will actually only cost you 150.00 instead of 450.00 to me and the cost of her gift cert. Nick taught me a valuable lesson, that I followed from the first day in business.....your local customers pay the bills and when you don't care about their business, no matter how little or how much they spend, you can hang a CLOSED sign on the door. I am booking Designing Daze fast in areas that I could help promote the store to girls that will come to MB this summer.I have several that I am scheduling in NC and upstate SC in April and May.
Kim

T77911S · 03-23-2009, 04:37 AM

this has got to be on the edge of blackmail. although she does not say she is or will do anything.
a bad lawyer could argue she is trying to "help" by giving good advice.
we will talk to the police this week.

DasBoot · 03-23-2009, 10:33 AM

A) Post Kim's e-mail address...we'll take care of her.

B) How tall is this woman's hair?

T77911S · 03-23-2009, 11:50 AM

we are working on the BBB response now. trying to gather A little more info, not that we need it. the BBB gave us a number and PO box for "linda smith", i would like to find out who belongs to the number. i dont want to call and ask for linda because she could just pretend to be linda. if i ask for kim and linda is real, yea right, linda will know something is up, but if kim answers, what would i say.

DasBoot · 03-23-2009, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T77911S

... but if kim answers, what would i say.

Hmm...something like "I know where you kids wait for the school bus..."

T77911S · 03-24-2009, 10:12 AM

just talked to the cops. not much really.

he was reluctant, but filled out a herrassment charge based on the flase GC's. it will go to the judge, if he thinks it is valid, he will serve her with a summons and we all will go before the judge. what will come of that, i dont know. most likely just a restraining order.

we are going to send her an email telling her to come in thursday the the GC because we need to settle this. if/when i get the GC, i will keep it and if nothing is resolved linda smith can come back in and claim it. but before i tell her that we will try to settle things by telling her that the things she took from the store and the fact that she has not provided us with a current email list should make up for the $400 she claims we owe her. if she says no, then i will pull out the police paperwork and all the email and tell her we will have the police settle this.

the first GC that kim brought in that was suppose to be from an email from a friend had no email header at the top. it looked like someone typed the whole thing in a word document. the ploliceman just shook his head when i pointed that out.

even though we have a lot of little things against her, we dont have anything that is a direct threat of any kind.

oh, the phone number "linda smith" gave to the BBB is not in service. that makes 2 invalid numbers for linda smith.

T77911S · 03-27-2009, 09:06 AM

well i think all is resolved.

the witch came into the store this morning, after she said she would not come in a resolve this. my wife laid it out for her. she told her we had all the emails and proof that she was sending emails under and assumed name, she denied it of course. the wife told her we filed the herassment charge and we had proof of the emails and would take it to the judge. she told her that fact that she did not leave working equipment and provide a current email was worth way more than the $450 she said we owe her. in the end the witch agreed and said this is over. my wife still offered to let her take what she needed/wanted in product but the witch did not. my did say to me that if she comes back in to buy something she will not charge her.
so lets hope this is the end. i am sure my wife feels like there is a load off her back now.
thanks to all thet wrote in

Gogar · 03-27-2009, 09:34 AM

Just leave it in GOD's hands and it will all work out.