Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Ohio

An Akron, Ohio company filed a lawsuit against our out of state Small LLC to collect out of scope money not owed them.

This company attempted a nationwide project for our small business with disastrous results. Our company had to take several states back by sending out techs from Texas to finish the project. They were paid for the work but they claimed they incurred overages and extra time. We disputed the claims and asked for documentation explaining the charges as well as a meeting to reconcile both parties' issues. We were never contacted again and were served with a lawsuit 6 months later. We are a very small LLC and have little experience in how to protect against fraudulent claims from out of state vendors in out of state courts. Please advise... Thank you...


Asked on 2/15/11, 8:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bradley Miller Miller Law LLC

It sounds like you are finding yourself in a tough situation. The first thing you are going to need to do is find an attorney here in Ohio. Under state law, businesses cannot represent themselves in court and therefore need an attorney to act on their behalf (unless the action is brought in small claims court). You have 28 days from the day you received the complaint to file an answer. If you miss the deadline, the court could enter a default judgment against you, which could be used by the vendor to go after your business assets. Because of that it is important to find and hire an attorney as soon as possible.

Based on what you have described in your question, you might have a counterclaim against the vendor for the costs you incurred to "fix" what the vendor had done. This will depend on your contract with the vendor as well as the specific details of the situation. The attorney you choose should be able to advise you on whether this is a possibility.

Otherwise the most important advice I can give is to try to get an attorney as soon as possible to represent you. If you miss court deadlines you could get a judgment entered against you that you will be stuck with.

If you have any further questions or would like to discuss your situation in more detail, feel free to contact me.

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Answered on 2/15/11, 8:28 am


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