Good morning everyone,
Just a quick rundown of my situation.
About a year and a half ago, I moved from a different state to set up a dental clinic with my long time good friend. Due to the situation, I was really only given a very short period of time to consider the offer and did not have the time to do things more thoroughly. We have a heads of agreement email that we both have not signed but we have verbally agreed upon. I have been sent an official partnership contract (standard template shareholder’s agreement purchased from ‘cleardocs) that has not been signed by either party.
It is operating as a unit trust with each of us having a 50/50 stake-hold. I have found out recently that the dental chairs and some other equipment "I have bought" have been allocated to other surgeries I am not a party to. The equipment that is my surgery is much older and of a much lesser value.
The proof I have gathered are as follows:
1. The serial numbers and model year on my equipment do not match up with the invoices I have been given. In fact they match up with other equipment else where.
2. The invoice I have got direct from the supplier has the equipment being delivered elsewhere.
3. The main invoice I have been given by my partner prior to me agreeing on our partnership seems to have been fabricated as the same invoice with the same invoice number from the supplier is different.
4. One of the equipment needed major maintenance earlier in the year. My partner said it was covered under warranty. I have invoice and receipt stating that it was paid with his credit card associated with one of his other practices.
This is only the major equipment; I have not even gone through the small things as it will be hard to verify and would be extremely time consuming.
I have lost complete trust and obviously would like to move on from this partnership. It is really hard to value a practice that is just over a year old. My ideal outcome is to get my money back, with a bit of interest, some relocation/legal costs and my full commission for the year and a half. Even with all of that I would have taken a pay cut to be in this enterprise.
I know I need to see a lawyer, but I was wondering what my legal recourse was? Also is there a specific way I should be gathering information? A lot of the evidence I have are in Slack and Email conversations. However they are owned and controlled by my business partner. Are screenshots of Slack messages admissible?
Thank you.
Just a quick rundown of my situation.
About a year and a half ago, I moved from a different state to set up a dental clinic with my long time good friend. Due to the situation, I was really only given a very short period of time to consider the offer and did not have the time to do things more thoroughly. We have a heads of agreement email that we both have not signed but we have verbally agreed upon. I have been sent an official partnership contract (standard template shareholder’s agreement purchased from ‘cleardocs) that has not been signed by either party.
It is operating as a unit trust with each of us having a 50/50 stake-hold. I have found out recently that the dental chairs and some other equipment "I have bought" have been allocated to other surgeries I am not a party to. The equipment that is my surgery is much older and of a much lesser value.
The proof I have gathered are as follows:
1. The serial numbers and model year on my equipment do not match up with the invoices I have been given. In fact they match up with other equipment else where.
2. The invoice I have got direct from the supplier has the equipment being delivered elsewhere.
3. The main invoice I have been given by my partner prior to me agreeing on our partnership seems to have been fabricated as the same invoice with the same invoice number from the supplier is different.
4. One of the equipment needed major maintenance earlier in the year. My partner said it was covered under warranty. I have invoice and receipt stating that it was paid with his credit card associated with one of his other practices.
This is only the major equipment; I have not even gone through the small things as it will be hard to verify and would be extremely time consuming.
I have lost complete trust and obviously would like to move on from this partnership. It is really hard to value a practice that is just over a year old. My ideal outcome is to get my money back, with a bit of interest, some relocation/legal costs and my full commission for the year and a half. Even with all of that I would have taken a pay cut to be in this enterprise.
I know I need to see a lawyer, but I was wondering what my legal recourse was? Also is there a specific way I should be gathering information? A lot of the evidence I have are in Slack and Email conversations. However they are owned and controlled by my business partner. Are screenshots of Slack messages admissible?
Thank you.