Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: need advice

One aspect of this fairly complicated legal situation which, I believe, needs to be considered, is whether any part of the transaction which you engaged in with the owners of the company would fall under the Virginia Statute of Frauds (Va. Code Sec. 11.2)and, if so, whether your cancelled check could serve as evidence of any writing which might be required to validate your claim.

Re: need advice

YIKES! I think that having put down $50,000 quite a number of years ago without a written partnership agreement (if I understood) is a situation where you need to do quite a number of things to protect your legal rights. However, there is too little information in your question to give you a good answer. And I think that this is something where you definitely shoudld have a lawyer looking at this, because I think the next steps at various stages will be determined by the results uncovered along the way.

In general, I think you need to determine ASAP: (1) Who owns the real estate now (hopefully it is in the name of the company that you wrote the check to); (2) The identity of the partnership that you invested $50,000 in, (3) the status of that company. (4) You need to get the legal documents for that company, if any, from the Virginia State government or if the company was incorporated or a partnership formed in New York, then in New York or whereever it is. Copies of the partnership or incorporation documents could help you a great deal.

If you need some help, because I do not maintain an office to waste money on, I am available as an 8 year veteran of legal practice, with special emphasis on small business and consumer law, for $110 per hour.

Re: need advice

This sounds like a potentially complicated situation. It could be your word against the word of the other parties. The check might help but ''capital contribution'' could be used to describe several thing. You need to talk to an attorney. Good luck.