This ultimately happened due to the honest mistake (mistake nonetheless) made on Bill’s behalf when he (as he stated) signed over the building into our names to avoid any potential lawsuits (e.g. customer slipping, etc.), as well as to avoid paying property taxes and association dues. Unfortunately Bill did NOT share this information with us, that he making the transfer, until after the fact.
The moment that Bill transferred the building into our names - without us knowing until after the fact - it immediately became the property of the state (not ours).
I would really like to hear what Bill has to say about these two statements.
Unless California has some
REALLY unusual laws on the transfer of real property, I call BS on this out of hand.
You cannot transfer ownership of real estate, or anything else with a deed or title, without signatures from both parties. In the case of real estate, lawyers are involved.
You expect us to believe that all of a sudden, completely without your knowledge, you magically became the owner of this building? Without having acknowledged the transfer of ownership, assuming of the obligation to pay taxes on said property, nor signing a single piece of paper?
The big question here is, did we steal/swindle/wrangle the business out from under Bill? The answer is NO, absolutely not.
Actually from anyone's moral/ethical perspective that's exactly what you did, unless you choose to fulfill your agreement with Bill.
Bankruptcy be damned, you agreed to pay Bill $228,000 for the business. In the end you got it for $153,000, assuming you pay back your mother, and Bill got all of $53,000.
Yes, you cheated him, and are continuing to do so.
You entered into this purchase agreement while intentionally refusing to mention that you were currently in bankruptcy proceedings.
I can't say whether you thought you'd end up with the business for far less or not, but at the very least you went forward with the purchase in bad faith, knowingly withholding very pertinent information from the seller.
You gave your word to Bill that the deal would be completed when you signed the contract with him. In the end that's all there is that remains, your broken word.
Just because the courts do their thing and say Bill has to eat the loss in no way changes the fact that you personally gave your word to the man.
When everything else is taken away in life all a man has is his word and yours sir is worthless.
Now you have the money to open a second location as well as a distribution warehouse, but you are perfectly content having only paid Bill $53,000 of the $228,000 you agreed upon.
I don't kid myself by thinking anything I or anyone else here has to say will cause you to have a crisis of conscience and fulfill your obligation to Bill, but when all is said and done, you are a thief and a liar, and everything you have built and continue to build is entirely based on the fact that you acquired the business in the first place by shafting Bill to the tune of $175,000.
You can talk all you want about mistakes being made on both sides, but the truth is the mistakes were yours alone.
YOU chose not to mention being in bankruptcy. As a direct result of that it's
YOUR fault the state took possession of the business and your mother had to buy it back for you. That has nothing at all to do with Bill, it's entirely
YOUR debt to her, and in no way decreases the debt you agreed upon to Bill.
All you're doing is taking advantage of the system to get out of paying a debt and pocketing a whole lot of money.
The fact that you are apparently perfectly ok with that disgusts me.
