Business Advice-Small Claims?

Mazzza

Hi
Can anyone advise, I have an ex business partner who left owing me half of an £11,000.00 loan and half of an 8,000.00 loan I offered to pay an old vat bill with, plus some other small bills and bits he used my accounts i.e. buying business materials.
Is it worth taking him to small claims court or is there another way?
I do have a business agreement and he has taken work from our company by trading with the same trade and stealing a large contract we both had together.
He has nearly ruined my company all because I wouldn't sell to him.
thanks in advance

Brassedoff

Mazzza wrote: »

Hi
Can anyone advise, I have an ex business partner who left owing me half of an £11,000.00 loan and half of an 8,000.00 loan I offered to pay an old vat bill with, plus some other small bills and bits he used my accounts i.e. buying business materials.
Is it worth taking him to small claims court or is there another way?
I do have a business agreement and he has taken work from our company by trading with the same trade and stealing a large contract we both had together.
He has nearly ruined my company all because I wouldn't sell to him.
thanks in advance

Wow, from experience of advising several people over 20 years I can say without fear the only people about to get rich from this will be solicitors.

You have not put much in the way of detail up, please, if you can do so as you could be advised to go a few different routs.

You have the county courts
Statutory Demand
Arbitration
Debt collectors (I don't mean the large firms, I mean smaller, more "assertive" firms)

There is the correct course of action, but there is a need of far more info.

Regards

Mazzza

Brassedoff wrote: »

Wow, from experience of advising several people over 20 years I can say without fear the only people about to get rich from this will be solicitors.

You have not put much in the way of detail up, please, if you can do so as you could be advised to go a few different routs.

You have the county courts
Statutory Demand
Arbitration
Debt collectors (I don't mean the large firms, I mean smaller, more "assertive" firms)

There is the correct course of action, but there is a need of far more info.

Regards

Thank you
What sort of information would you need from me?

macman

You can only use the small claims track for claims of up to £5,000. Your claim appears to be £9,500, in which case a formal claim through the county court is required.
There is no such thing as a 'small claims court'. However, claims of under £5,000 can be processed via the small claim process through the county courts, which is faster and cheaper.

Brassedoff

macman wrote: »

You can only use the small claims track for claims of up to £5,000. Your claim appears to be £9,500, in which case a formal claim through the county court is required.
There is no such thing as a 'small claims court'. However, claims of under £5,000 can be processed via the small claim process through the county courts, which is faster and cheaper.

You are talking about "Fast Track"

Annisele

I agree with Brassedoff that there's lots for solicitors to get rich on here.

What do you want to happen now? Do you just want the £9,500? Do you want your ex-partner to stop trading in the same business? Do you want the large client back?

When you say he nearly ruined "my company" are you talking about a limited company, you as a sole trader, or the partnership you ran together? Or something else.

Brassedoff

left owing me half of an £11,000.00 loan and half of an 8,000.00 loan - what proof do you have? Or did you get a loan/credit card to get the money?

I offered to pay an old vat bill with, plus some other small bills and bits he used my accounts i.e. buying business materials. - did he pay for those?

Is it worth taking him to small claims court or is there another way? - There are so many ways. Just you will not be in the small claims court. The amounts too high. You would end up spending. Fortune on legal fee's if you don't have proof. And I mean without a shadow of a doubt.

I do have a business agreement - What does it say? does it have a no compete clause?

and he has taken work from our company by trading with the same trade and stealing a large contract we both had together. - The first item depends on the previous question. The latter depends on whether he assigned the contract illegally or if a Judge would see he did indeed transfer the contract whilst in your employ in bad faith, or if you can prove it another way. The big issue is it sounds very murky and not clear cut.

He has nearly ruined my company all because I wouldn't sell to him. - Unfortunately that's business! There are many people who are willing to sell their Granny for a £1

Wywth

macman wrote: »

You can only use the small claims track for claims of up to £5,000. Your claim appears to be £9,500, in which case a formal claim through the county court is required.
There is no such thing as a 'small claims court'. However, claims of under £5,000 can be processed via the small claim process through the county courts, which is faster and cheaper.

The limit was raised to £10,000 (in England & Wales) from 01 April 2013

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2013/04/small-claims-limit-rises

paddyrg

macman wrote: »

You can only use the small claims track for claims of up to £5,000. Your claim appears to be £9,500, in which case a formal claim through the county court is required.

Luckily I think this went upto £10k just a couple of months ago?

Mazzza

Annisele wrote: »

I agree with Brassedoff that there's lots for solicitors to get rich on here.

What do you want to happen now? Do you just want the £9,500? Do you want your ex-partner to stop trading in the same business? Do you want the large client back?

When you say he nearly ruined "my company" are you talking about a limited company, you as a sole trader, or the partnership you ran together? Or something else.

I would like my money back and I have found out he isn't trading anymore, but he didn't tell the Large Client that he had left our company, so he still traded as my company name. Taking a couple of large job from me, which I did have booked in, but they called and said it wasn't going ahead!

It was a 50/50 partnership with a partnership agreement in place.:)

Mazzza

paddyrg wrote: »

Luckily I think this went upto £10k just a couple of months ago?

Thanks and yes you are right I have checked this out and you can do it online costing around a hundred pound or so depending on how much you want to claim back.