Legal Question in Real Estate Law in North Carolina
Went to small claims court last week and suing a company for damages they caused. However, I sued the owner instead of the company itself. The judge told me since they were �incorporated� I was suppose to sue the business not the individual owner and also be sure to put the address on there that is listed on the secretary of state�s website to get the sheriff to deliver too . However, The address on the secretary of state site IS NOT his home address after all or a PO Box or business address (hasnt updated his information obviously). Might have been his prior home address but he actually lives in a different town than is listed on the SOS site and I have the right address that I printed off the whitepages.com. Why I am saying all this is I was going to go file today, but if I go pay to file again it would go to a wrong address and they would not have it for court since sheriff wouldn�t serve him at this address. So see using the business address seems to have been right in the first place huh? It just is not legally right per the judge. What would you do? Also on the Secretary of State site, we have now found out that the business is �dissolved� makes me think suing the owner was right too since there " isn�t a business" at least a legal one it seems here???? I think he just wanted it thrown out of court but after all the judge didn�t get it thrown out and now look what we discovered... wish I would have known this prior to going!!!! Guess I don�t want to file again to the wrong address and waste more money what would you do? Who would you send it too (what address business one or one on SOS site like judge said? Also I have documentation off the SOS site where the business is disposed off wasn�t I right to sue the owner???? I have all these things printed off. They were disposed off since August 2010. Help me understand how should I file in this case??? Thanks in advance for your help!!!!
1 Answer from Attorneys
First: a disclaimer-- without knowing the specifics, I'm speaking in generalities here and your situation may be different.
Okay, having said that- sorry to hear about your small claims woes. It happens. Just because the business is dissolved doesn't mean you can then go after the owner. Unfortunately, unless the owner used the business as his alter ego, you can't sue the owner for something the business is responsible for. (The alter ego theory is extremely hard to prove, by the way, and not really something you can do in small claims- you'd need to file in district court at least). Secondly, the business may be active but just failed to file the appropriate paperwork with the S of State. Before you spend good money after bad, you should try to find out if the company is still in business and/or has assets. If you get a judgment against a company that is no longer in business with no assets, you only have a piece of paper.
You *can* serve someone at several addresses, so you could attempt to serve the business at both the S of State address AND the address you believe is proper. If the business is actually at the address you found, the sheriff will deliver it to an officer of the company and you will have service. The magistrate was telling you the common way to find the business address, but ultimately if you get them served it doesn't matter what address you used. Keep in mind, however, that for small claims you have to sue in the county that the defendant resides/does business from.
Hope that helps.
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