Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

Ex Business Partner Bilking Me Out of Money I'm Owed

I was a 20% partner in a business. My partner asked me to deposit $4500 into our company account to cover outstanding checks that she had already mailed, assuring me I would be paid back when we collected from a job we were finishing up the following week. A couple of days later, she informed me that she was going to dissolve the business and would pay me back when she could.

I later found out that she was paying many of her personal expenses out of company funds.

I have a dissolution dated March 31, 2003, stating she would pay me $1500 when she received her tax refund, and the balance wihtin a year.

Today, I received a partial payment of $1500 from her, with another dissolution (she never filed the first one), stating that she was deducting $1400 for the cell phone I used while in business with her. The cell phone contract was something she signed up for without consulting me, and was in her name alone, not the company name. She has said that she doesn't need my signature for the dissolution, because she owned 80% of the company.

I was not paid a cent the entire year we were in business.

Can she now legally deduct the $1400 from what she owes me for something that was in her name personally?


Asked on 7/17/03, 5:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Peter Gonzalez Sanchez-Medina, Gonzalez, Quesada, Lage, Crespo, Gomez & MachadoLLP

Re: Ex Business Partner Bilking Me Out of Money I'm Owed

Debts and loans to the company get paid first, before salary or distributions to principals of the corporation. If your partner was stealing from the company, you may be able to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the corporation against her so that the corporation can recover the loss, and then perhaps the corporation will have enough money (assuming it ever collects it after obtaining a final judgment) to pay you back the money owed. With respect to the cell phone bill, if it was a business expense covered by the corporation, then it is unclear how she could argue that such an expense would be a set-off to other monies owed to you by the corporation and her personally. If it's worth it financially, you may want to retain counsel to investigate this matter and pursue viable claims.

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Answered on 7/18/03, 11:05 am


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