Buying Out A Business Partner (LLC)

[henryhugo]

co-own a company to where my percentage of ownership is 49% and the other owner has a majority 51%. He has put in around $15,000 of equity into the business, whereas i have put in around $5-7000. Upon the inception of the business we were both working around the same number of hours for probably around 3 months. After a huge backbone of the business never came into fruition, my business partner completely stopped working. Now I have completely grown the business by making contacts and continued work. So, now that the growth has come and it seems like there is money to be had my partner wants more involvement. I have been putting hundreds of thousands of hours into this business and I would like to know if my countless hours of work and building the company mean anything legally or if it would count as any sort of equity towards my share of the company? And if I'd like to buy him out what options I might have (if he's still owed around $5-6000)?