Business Partner is Lying to me

[zippo]

My business partnetr is trying to develop outside interests with suppliers and associates. I have intercepted emails that clearly shows him asking for meetings without me and he has had an email account set up under his name for another business. We have a 5050 share split and a very good legal partnership agreement that I can certainly use if I wish to. My concerns are that the evidence of his dishonesty is on emails that I have intercepted ( company email ) and I am not sure if this fact means that I have a ligitimate right to have read them!

 

[sellickbhoy]

you clearly have no trust with your partner - is it worth sticking together?

ask him out right if he is happy and if he'd rather disolve the partnership - and if so, just part the ways

 

[DuaneJackson]

Can't you dissolve the relationship without having to reveal what you know and how you know it?

 

[zippo]

I guess you are right.. I think that this will be my final decision...Its not like I have any worries that my clients wont follow me!

 

[sellickbhoy]

so you plan to take HIS clients with you?

seems you are made for each other if thats how you are behaving

how long you been in business together? are things going well/bad?

 

[zippo]

Its a possibility but if I am to discredit him and enforce the clauses in the partnership agreement it might have to be inevitable

 

[zippo]

I am not planning on taking his clients.... 99.9% of the clients we trade with were won by me and are managed by me! If I was to move on I believe that my relationship with them and the service I provide would inevitably mean they wouild want to follow me.

 

[sellickbhoy]

so, if the business is all you, what do you fear about him talking to suppliers - let him talk to suppliers and make the move to walk out on you.

if he wants to do his own thing, let him

 

[zippo]

I will continue to win business ( I secured another client today) and the euphoria of doing this is clearly dampened by having to share profit with someone that is not pulling oin the same direction!

 

[sanjiv]

Isn't it illegal to read someone elses emails? Against the Computer Misuse Act I believe but you may want to check this out before you move further.

 

[PETTE]

Illegal against Computer misuse? What could be the possible penalty.

 

[sanjiv]

I am not sure. Perhaps some of the lawyers on here may know.

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Illegal against Computer misuse? What could be the possible penalty.

Prison sentence and/or fine and/or community service etc are a few examples of any criminal activity.

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.

 

[zippo]

Hi Sanj, this may/may not be the case and i will take this into consideration. The emails are all from the business account and we share access.

 

[paultnl]

If the OP is the admin of the email server then there may be no offence

 

[sanjiv]

If the OP is the admin of the email server then there may be no offence

I don't think that makes a difference. If the email was still in the name of the partner, then it is his email and no-one elses to be read. It is like can Bill Gates read your Hotmail ?

Hi Sanj, this may/may not be the case and i will take this into consideration. The emails are all from the business account and we share access.

If you share the same email address, then it is probably alright.

That is just what I imagine would be the case. You would need a legal person to check this out and it is worth checking it out before you go any further because you wouldn't want to land yourself in trouble.

 

[Atilla]

No mention that i can see of OP deliberately attempting to access emails of other party. On pretty safe ground i would say. Besides, who's gonna report him?

 

[Bri]

What a load of tosh...unless his computer resides in his home and youve entered it to look at the emails then yes you have comitted a crime. If the computer is on the business premises then the information stored on there is the property of the business and access is to be allowed by not anyone of course but the owners.

Secondly if he's taking over suppliers(your words) and the customers are all yours( your words) wheres the problem,? The problem lies with both of you, he's pissed off with you about something and probably youre pissed off with him about something too.

Thirdly, in a partnership communication with each other is top of the list, if you havent got that you shouldnt be in a partnership at all.Theres no room for mavericks in this scenario.

This is a balance of opinion post.

 

[sanjiv]

OP it might be worth posting this in the legal section.

 

[Paul Norman]

Oh dear. I am going to put my business hat on, which is what needs to happen here. No place for any emotion at all.

The situation at the moment is that trust has gone, at least from your perspective. Which means the business cannot prosper. The most urgent thing is to resolve this, for both people, and for the business.

There is only one course of action. Do not get legal. Do not retaliate. Do not doing anything until you have done the following.

Sit down, and have an honest, heart to heart, chat about what you are both doing, and what you both want to happen next. This is so so vital, otherwise it just gets less pleasant, and starts to incur big legal fees, that might not be necessary.

If only people in business would do this. So much pain would be avoided. And if you are out of love with each other, negotiate a parting of the ways. And forget the 'I won more customers' argument, because that is childish. The business is worth a number, and you are going to have to find a way of splitting it.

 

[KDMINX]

Isn't it illegal to read someone elses emails? Against the Computer Misuse Act I believe but you may want to check this out before you move further.

Irrelevant. Emails are the property of the company. When I was an employee it was usual practice for IT to give me access to the email of everyone I managed. It always surprised me what some people (particularly female) discuss over company email. Now I own my company I certainly see all communication as being on my behalf and monitor/manage accordingly.

IMO the OP should boot out the partner, sounds like they don’t contribute much anyway if the OP wins 99.9% of business. That said the OP needs to be careful in order to maintain the moral high ground.

Trust has now been lost, this is irreparable. The OP should write a formal letter to their partner “suspending” the partnership using only vague terms such as “It has been brought to my attention” and requiring the partner not to contact any customers or suppliers whilst you conduct “further investigation” that will discover the emails.

You can then dissolve the partnership and fully exercise the terms of your partnership agreement to prevent him from starting his own company.

 

[localbusinessmarketing]

Move on this is obviously not going to work.put your cards on the table and get out of this partnership like you would get out of a burning house..