Business Purchase and Postpayment Issues

[medimar]

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

I had spoken with an individual about purchasing his medical caregiver facility in california. After going to the place a few times to view the business and run the numbers I agreed to purchase the business. The guy had requested that I pay cash and I told him that would not work. I had an investor from Australia who said he would put up the money and wanted to no involvement in the business etc. The guy wanted $100k usd...but after running the numbers and doing research etc we agreed on $70k usd. he said once the money was sent he would transfer over the paperwork. in the mean time he let one of my workers come in and run the business and had completely abandoned the business. the money was sent 1 day later. while he came in a day later to clean out some of his old stuff. he had my worker that we had a deal and he would be responsible to pay him some extra money for some of the old product that was left in the shop. product that was supposed to be left in as part of the sale. there was no contract for the sale. he received the money. it has been over a month and he still has not transferred over the paperwork. he then phoned me and told me that he wants $25k in additional funds or he will cancel the paperwork and leave me high and dry. he claims that he is owed 10k from the previous lease (which the building owner would be responsible to him if anyone) and said we owe him for the previous product that was left in the shop. where should i start and what are my options?

it seems that he is extorting me?? if he cancelled the license...wouldnt that be fraud since i sent him funds and he hasn't given me what i paid for???

thanks in advance.....

[fabulous07]

well buddy, i feel sorry for you, because you don't legally own that since you have no paperwork to prove you do. Also, you sent that man money and you can't prove that either unless you wired it or some other financial institution has a record of the transaction. If there is no record of the transaction, kiss that money good-bye. It's gone and you're not going to get it back.

You must keep documentation of EVERYTHING or it has no legal standing. You should have gotten a receipt for the money. You shouldn't have given that man the money until you had the paperwork in your hand. You should've completed the transaction in person...

[fabulous07]

you can't prove you gave him the money, can you? you can't even prove any deal was made... and he will dispute any claim you have knowing you can't prove it. what you did was really dumb.

[medimar]

yes there was a wire to him. So there is a paper trail of him being paid the money.

[medimar]

I also have text messages from the both of us. He says in there he is waiting for the wire to hit then he will transfer everything over to me. I also have the text from him sent to me the other day saying give him the additional 25k or he will cancel the license...

[medimar]

any further advice or thoughts????

[fabulous07]

My advice would be to get a tape recorder, record all future conversations with him. Document everything from this point forward. Call your financial institution that wired the money and get a written statement of the transfer. Collect as much evidence and proof of the transaction as possible. Keep all texts, but be careful that they might automatically be deleted after a certain period of time. Go to your cell phone company and see if they have any documentations of the texts or if they can get those for you. You might need them.

I would keep him talking. Does he have an email that you can talk to him over? I would ask him questions that prompted him to make admissions of the transaction without him knowing it.

If you have to sue him, you will have the burden of proof and if you don't have it, you won't win the case. Collect as much evidence as possible. That's a lot of money to lose.

For the future, get it all in writing. Never do this again and always keep everything documented with receipts and everything. There should have been a contract made. My thought is, and you want to go into business?

Do you have keys to the building and do you go into the building?

[fabulous07]

Oh and DO NOT SEND HIM ANY MORE MONEY! Especially without the paperwork in your hand! In fact, if you are in his building that he legally owns, he can get you taken out of there for trespassing.

Have you ever even met this guy in person???

[juke]

Originally Posted by fabulous07

My advice would be to get a tape recorder, record all future conversations with him.

I stopped reading there, because what you suggest is illegal in CA (if done without the consent of both parties).

Your "advice" is incorrect, and you shouldn't be posting.

[>Charlotte<]

Originally Posted by fabulous07

My advice would be to get a tape recorder, record all future conversations with him.

You have no idea what you're talking about. Please go play on Ask.com or WikiAsk.

[fabulous07]

What is illegal? It is not illegal to send an email and print it out and use that conversation as evidence in court if that's what you're saying. do you have better advice for him.

It has crossed my mind that he could turn around, keep your money and sell the property again to someone else...

[Shadowbunny]

They both quoted the part of your post that was illegal: your suggestion that OP use a tape recorder.

[fabulous07]

then it would be good idea to use e-mail since using a recorder is illegal in CA. It is not illegal to record someone in New York where I live, so that is something that I would do in his situation. But yes, definitely don't do that if it's against the law in CA. Thanks.

[fabulous07]

California

Although California is a two-party state, it is also legal to record a conversation if you include a beep on the recorder and for the parties to hear. This information was included with my telephone bill.

California prohibits telephone monitoring or recording, including the use of information obtained through interception unless all parties to the conversation consent (California Penal Code Sections 631 & 632). There is no statutory business telephone exception and the relevant case law all but excludes this possibility. California courts have recognized "implied" consent as being sufficient to satisfy the statute where one party has expressly agreed to the taping and the other continues the conversation after having been informed that the call is being recorded. Violation is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. A civil plaintiff may recover the greater of $3,000 or three times the amount of any actual damages sustained.