Suing a "business", know business and owner name, unknown business form

[sam008]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I am suing a business, and can't find it's legal form. Its name doesn't include LLC, Corp, Inc, etc.

The business' only location is in Michigan. I performed a business name search with the State of Michigan corporation division (LARA) which came up empty. I performed an assumed name (DBA) search with the county which came up empty. I got a copy of the city occupancy permit, which only lists the business name I already know. The business' website domain name information lists the business name I already know. The person behind the business, of course, won't tell me what form the business is.

I'm thinking it's most likely an unregistered business name, so I'd file against the person behind it. Luckily I know this person's full name!

But, I'm coming up on the statute of limitations, so I think I need to cover my bases by naming the "business" separately. The business could be registered in another state, and they could have forgotten to have filed the proper paperwork with Michigan for a foreign (meaning out of state, not country) company operating in Michigan.

1 - Model complaints I've seen all say "Defendant X, a corporation", and also say what . Do I just list "Defendant X, a business"?

2 - For each count, do I just say it is against "Defendant X" (under parties listed as "a business") and "Defendant Y" (who is the person?) Or, do I need to list each count twice, once for each?

 

[Mark Maroon]

If the company that you are looking for has a relatively unique name, then you could expand your search for what state it was organized in to include states that people often choose to organize companies in for tax or other purposes (for instance, Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, and Florida). But be careful, if the company that you are looking for does not have a very unique name, then the more places you search for a company with that name, the more likely you are to find some other company (ie. the wrong company) with the same name.

http://www.residentagentinfo.com/

You might want to look at other counties in MI to see if you can find a registered DBA. For instance, if you know that the guy who is using the name used to live in a neighboring county, then maybe he registered the DBA in that county when he lived there.

If you believe that this is just an individual doing business as a (registered or unregistered) business name, then you could file your complaint against just John Doe dba CompanyName. In the body of your complaint where you identify the defendant, you might want to allege that he is an individual residing at such and such an address in MI, and in a separate paragraph you might want to allege that he does business using the name blah blah at such and such an address in MI, and on the Internet using the web site www.blahblah.com.

If you believe that there could actually be a real company registered somewhere that you cannot find, then you might want do the above, but in addition also add the CompanyName as a separate defendant, and in the body of the complaint you might want to allege that it is a company registered or organized in an unknown state, not registered or organized in MI, but doing business at such and such an address in MI and on the internet using the web site www.blahblah.com.