What To Do When You No Longer Get Along with Your Business Partner(s)

At Walker Novack Legal Group, LLC, we recognize that business partnerships can function like a marriage: if the individuals involved do not work to maintain the relationship, then they run the risk of drifting apart. A partnership or other joint venture can help your business to succeed while mitigating your risk of loss. However, the spirit of partnership that is often present in the beginning can wane and fade as time passes and the difficulties of sustaining a business mount. Resolving such disagreements quickly and conclusively is critical if the business is to continue effective operations. The attorneys at Walker Novack Legal Group, LLC can help you to navigate the process of developing an effective solution to addressing business disputes, whether through mediation, a negotiated buyout, or litigation, if necessary.

Mediation: An Informal Way to Resolve Differences

When business owners disagree, it is important for the owners to determine whether there is a path forward for the business. Mediation may provide that forum where each owner can voice his or her concerns and ideas and have a neutral third-party attempt to broker an agreement that every owner can accept. In mediation, the neutral third-party (the mediator) does not force any owner to accept a resolution that the owner does not want to accept. Instead, the mediator acts by listening to each owner involved in mediation and offering potential solutions to the disagreement.

Negotiated Buyout: Encouraging the Departure of an Owner

Depending on the form your business takes, another potential resolution is for one or more owners to buy out the ownership interest of disagreeing owner(s). A business’s operating agreement or articles of incorporation may specify how the value of the owner’s interest is to be calculated and how the buyout is supposed to proceed. Attempting to buy out an owner’s interest where the business form does not allow such a procedure to take place, failing to follow buyout procedures set forth in governing documents, or not properly valuing the owner’s interest before buying the interest out, can all lead to additional legal complications for the remaining owners.

Litigation: The Last Resort

If other efforts at reconciling the warring business partners are not successful, then litigation in court may be the only remaining option to resolve the partners’ differences. Courts may enter a ruling in favor of one owner or group of owners and direct the other owner(s) to undertake specific actions. In other situations, the courts may provide a path whereby an owner or owners relinquish their ownership interests in the business. In more serious cases, courts may direct that the business be wound up and dissolved.

Services Offered by an Experienced Ohio Business Dispute Law Firm

Walker Novack Legal Group, LLC is available to serve as a mediator for business owners who require a third party to help facilitate meaningful discussions and brainstorm ideas for overcoming disputes. Where more formal methods of dispute resolution are needed, we are prepared to provide individual owners and partners with competent and targeted advice and representation to help prevent disputes from unnecessarily jeopardizing their business. Call Walker Novack Legal Group, LLC at (614) 423-8276 to meet with one of our business dispute attorneys today.

Walker Novack Legal Group, LLC
5013 Pine Creek Drive
Westerville, Ohio 43081
P: (614) 423-8276
F: (614) 767-0695