Important or Memorable Cases Attorney in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

Dealing with a former partner who becomes a pest

More In This Category

View Transcript

I can tell you about some closely held business lawsuits that I’ve been involved with. I represent the owner of a precision machine tool operation. She makes prototype parts for the aerospace industry, and she came to me with two problems.

She had a partner who had essentially sold out all but a small piece of his ownership to her but then became a pest, let’s just say. It took 18 months for me to force him to sell his shares to the corporation. It was acrimonious, but I felt good about being able to do that for her because, wholly apart from any money issues, it was a terrible drain on my client’s energy. It was just stressful.

The other problem she had was that her company worked out of a building that she and her former corporate partner owned 50/50 in a partnership. It took some doing, but I finally forced him to sell his partnership interest to her and got him out, basically separating them.

A number of years ago, I helped one partner in a pizza oven factory separate from his partner. I find that in a lot of these partnership and closely held corporate fights, if the companies are successful, frequently, somebody wants to get more credit for the success than perhaps the other shareholders think they’re entitled to. Conversely, if the company fails, it’s never their fault—it’s always somebody else’s fault.

Small businesses seem to me to be a fertile area for disputes, involving both personalities and money. When you say “business divorce,” if you haven’t actually done it, you don’t know how correct that statement really is.

Chicago, IL commercial litigation attorney Terrance Buehler talks about a memorable case involving disputes in a closely held business. He has been involved in several closely held business lawsuits. He represents the owner of a precision machine tool operation. She makes prototype parts for the aerospace industry and came to him with two problems.

She had a partner who had essentially sold out all but a small piece of his ownership to her but then became a pest, let’s just say. It took 18 months for him to force the partner to sell his shares to the corporation. It was acrimonious, but he felt good about being able to do that for her because, wholly apart from any money issues, it was a terrible drain on his client’s energy. It was just stressful.

The other problem she had was that her company worked out of a building that she and her former corporate partner owned 50/50 in a partnership. It took some doing, but he finally forced the partner to sell his partnership interest to her and got him out, basically separating them.

A number of years ago, he helped one partner in a pizza oven factory separate from his partner. He finds that in a lot of these partnership and closely held corporate fights, if the companies are successful, frequently, somebody wants to get more credit for the success than perhaps the other shareholders think they’re entitled to. Conversely, if the company fails, it’s never their fault—it’s always somebody else’s fault.

Small businesses seem to him to be a fertile area for disputes, involving both personalities and money. When people say “business divorce,” if they haven’t actually been through it, they don’t realize how accurate that statement really is.

More Videos From This Lawyer