Legal Question in Business Law in Virginia
Business
I recently purchased a florist and moved it to a new building. My business is located in a small town in Virginia and there were standing orders taped to the wall. One of the orders with the florist that I bought was from a producer in California for $50 a week. It was written on a piece of paper and taped to the wall. All the information was on this piece of paper for this customer. The previous did not know the information since she was no longer in the shop. The paper was removed from the wall by one of the employees. Since then, they have started a new florist and are filling the order. The order was worth greater than $2,500 a year to me. Would this be considered a criminal matter or a civil matter? If civil, why? If criminal, what point of law can I use to prove this?
Second, they also printeed out a customer list and contacted customers based on the information that belonged to me. Is this considered a crime?
Do I have any options here? If yes, what are they?
There are lots of other issues but if you can answer these, I would appreciate it.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Business
I think the answer starts with a review of the purchase and sale agreement between you and the seller.
There may be violations there. Are you saying one of your employees removed the paper and gave it to the seller?
Re: Business
If you are questioning whether the employee taking standing orders and a customer list and appropriating them for his/her own use is proper, it is not. However, the answer is not so simple as many things go into whether you would have a tortious contract claim or trademark violation claim. I suggest that you meet directly with an attorney to closely review the facts and consider your options more fully.
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