Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: An old business that was ''taken'' from my father

Unfortunately, there is a doctrine called "laches" (pronounced like "latches") that you would have to overcome. Basically, laches is the notion that you could have acted earlier (in this case much earlier) but you sat on your hands and did nothing. You'd have to have an extraordinarily compelling reason to interfere with an ongoing business at this point. Not knowing what to do is not an extraordinarily reason since you could have gone to see an attorney about this matter at the time.

I don't think there's anything anyone can do for you 20 years later; even real property, when subjected to adverse possession, passes to the possessor 20 years after the continuous adverse possession begins.

If another attorney disagrees with me, good luck to them -- and to you.

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Re: An old business that was ''taken'' from my father

Obviously opinions will differ, but I strongly encourage you to thoroughly discuss the details of this situation with an attorney who, among other areas, practices commercial litigation and you may contact me at [email protected] to discuss it in more detail. I am particularly interested in why you characterized this as a "taking."