Legal Question in Business Law in Maine

Re: business being sold

It sounds like you have someone in place who has an option to buy, or is buying over time with owner financing and that person will have the ability to walk away from the deal and force you to take the business back over.

Your competitor has no right to intimidate your potential buyer. There are various legal causes of action that could ultimately be taken, depending upon a careful review of the actual facts of the situation. For example, this may be an Unfair Trade Practice, it may be Defamation or it may be a Tortious Intentional Interference with a Contractual Relationship. You would need to develop the entire story clearly for a determination to be made as to what, if anything, can be legally done. Does the competitor know it is communicating with your new owner? what exactly is it saying? is it in writing or on the telephone? is it true or false? how would this benefit the competitor? what would the new owner do to support your case?