Christopher3333
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Montana
My wife (and I) were looking into buying a retail business. We signed a Confidentiality Non-Disclosure Statement (CNDS) for our realtor so we could look into the business further. After a lot of thought and consideration, my wife chose to not buy the business, and instead, open her own store. In the document that we signed, there was no "non-compete" clause. And the main reason for not buying the business was because of the lease required for the building that the business is in. The seller also stated that if she did not sell the business, she would close the doors as of 9/17/11.
We are now being threatened with a lawsuit, supposedly because my wife sent out to all of her friends on Facebook that she was opening a new business. According to the person threatening the lawsuit, in the CNDS, it says "Without seller's prior written consent, neither Buyer or Buyer's representative shall contact seller's neighbors, lenders, employees, or any other person or company in any way affiliated with the Property and/or seller".
I take this to mean that she was to not contact any of the abovementioned relating to the sale of the business.
Unknown to my wife, one of the people on her Facebook list is a consignor with this business, and now they are claiming we have potentially negatively affected the chance for her to sell the business.
In my opinion, this does not seem to be valid, but I'm not an attorney. In the Facebook message she sent out, she was announcing the opening of her store and asking any of her friends that wanted to consign with her to let her know. Again, with out a "non-compete" clause, has she done anything wrong?
My wife (and I) were looking into buying a retail business. We signed a Confidentiality Non-Disclosure Statement (CNDS) for our realtor so we could look into the business further. After a lot of thought and consideration, my wife chose to not buy the business, and instead, open her own store. In the document that we signed, there was no "non-compete" clause. And the main reason for not buying the business was because of the lease required for the building that the business is in. The seller also stated that if she did not sell the business, she would close the doors as of 9/17/11.
We are now being threatened with a lawsuit, supposedly because my wife sent out to all of her friends on Facebook that she was opening a new business. According to the person threatening the lawsuit, in the CNDS, it says "Without seller's prior written consent, neither Buyer or Buyer's representative shall contact seller's neighbors, lenders, employees, or any other person or company in any way affiliated with the Property and/or seller".
I take this to mean that she was to not contact any of the abovementioned relating to the sale of the business.
Unknown to my wife, one of the people on her Facebook list is a consignor with this business, and now they are claiming we have potentially negatively affected the chance for her to sell the business.
In my opinion, this does not seem to be valid, but I'm not an attorney. In the Facebook message she sent out, she was announcing the opening of her store and asking any of her friends that wanted to consign with her to let her know. Again, with out a "non-compete" clause, has she done anything wrong?