Legal Question in Business Law in Colorado

Re: Can I fire my business partner for misconduct?

You use the term "fire him". If by that you mean having him involuntarily give up his shares, that will depend on your shareholders agreement. If you don't have one, then you cannot likely force him to sell his shares because of his misconduct.

His misconduct may effect his rights at being an officer or a director of the company because of a possible claim of breach of fiduciary or other duty, but misconduct as you mentioned does not automatically trigger some forced buyout.

You need to contact an attorney to consider other options. I would strongly advise that next time you have a business partner that you have an attorney draft the shareholders or operating agreement to cover these kind of matters. If you don't then you are left to the court to resolve your disputes which is dozens of times more costly and time consuming.

Re: Can I fire my business partner for misconduct?

Assuming you are actually his supervisor and that he is an at-will employee of the business as well as a shareholder, you can fire him as an employee for misconduct or, for that matter, any reason (other than discrimination, retaliation etc.). Mr. Murillo is right, however, that the firing does nothing to change his status as a shareholder.