Employee misrepresents company

[Abe]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

A business partner and I we told my an employee of a Brokerage that does private placement offerings as well as regular loans. Prior to paying our retainer we were told that they could do a private placement offering for vacant land. We paid our retainer and were then told my the owner that they could not do this but that they could only do complete projects meaning our buildout had to be included. We did not want to go this route and they refused to give us back our retainer. The employee was recently fired and the CEO/Owner informed us that if we wanted our money back we would have to go after the employee and that he was not liable for his employees misrepresentation.

Question: Is the employer correct? Are there any precedent cases that could be used to show that he is liable for his employees misrepresentation.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

A business partner and I we told my an employee of a Brokerage that does private placement offerings as well as regular loans. Prior to paying our retainer we were told that they could do a private placement offering for vacant land. We paid our retainer and were then told my the owner that they could not do this but that they could only do complete projects meaning our buildout had to be included. We did not want to go this route and they refused to give us back our retainer. The employee was recently fired and the CEO/Owner informed us that if we wanted our money back we would have to go after the employee and that he was not liable for his employees misrepresentation.

Question: Is the employer correct? Are there any precedent cases that could be used to show that he is liable for his employees misrepresentation.

Are there any cases? Almost certainly, I'm not a Georgia lawyer, so I don't know the caselaw offhand, but the basic rule is that the employer is liable for the actions of the employee while the employee is acting within the scope of his employment. The only way the employer wouldn't be liable for the employee's actions is MAYBE if the employee came to you on his own time (outside of work hours) and misrepresented his association with the employer (oh, there are other times an employer isn't responsible, but they aren't relevant here given the facts you've given). But so long as the employee was acting within the scope of his employment, the employer is absolutely liable. This is standard agency stuff. How much money is involved? Is small claims an option?

 

[Abe]

I doubt it . It was 20k.

 

[divgradcurl]

I doubt it . It was 20k.

Then you'll need to decide whether it's worth hiring a lawyer or not. Maybe a letter from a lawyer would be sufficient to get them to back down on their position.