Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Florida

Minority Shareholder/ Forgery on a Loans

Hello,

I'm a minority shareholder and a BOD in a family business. I'm being oppressed by the majority shareholder and they refuse to provide any company documents revealing the true net asset value of the company. The majority shareholder has repeatedly tried to buy me out for no more than my original investment. Furthermore, I am the guarantor on 5 different very large loans. I have since found out that a year later the majority shareholder took out an additional 12 loans and forged my name as the guarantor and submitted my identification documents which he wrongfully obtained. He has informed me that he will have all the forged loans very soon so that I can't have any claim against him. He refuses to pay off the loans I actually signed because he is using them against me to force my to sell out for nothing. Once the forged loans are paid off, do I have any recourse against him for fraudulently forging them, using my identity, and paying off the forged loans (because he's liable) before he pays off the loans I previously signed ? Can I hold him liable for the loans I signed? Am I liable for his fraud? I'm afraid that if I report him to the banks, he'll go bankrupt and I'll be forced to pay the loans out of my pocket


Asked on 6/20/08, 8:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Steven Meyer CPLS, P.A.

Re: Minority Shareholder/ Forgery on a Loans

I'm sorry to hear about your situation with the company. As a minority shareholder you have many rights. You certainly have the right to know about the company's assets and liabilities. You may want to file a lawsuit to have the judge order an accounting in which the records are made available to you, and also to invalidate the loans that you did not sign. This would be a fraud claim against the majority shareholder. You may also consider filing criminal charges against him for forging your name on the loan documents. We handle many complex business litigation cases such as this. We would be happy to discuss the situtation with you. We offer a free initial consultation.

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Answered on 6/20/08, 11:07 pm


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