What are my rights if I am a 33% owner of a LLC?
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What are my rights if I am a 33% owner of a LLC?
I do not have a signed Operating Agreement; no one has one for some reason. We had a falling out over financial decisions and the majority owner changed all pass codes to all accounts trying to reduce me to an hourly employee per the Operating Agreement. Then she did not pay me my salary owed. I stopped working at this point. Since I am an co-owner of the bank account, I can see that she is paying her health insurance, gas, and her car lease payment. She only travels to and from work teaching exercise classes. This is clearly not legal. I have no money to take her to court. Can I represent myself? She also took a dividend of $1500 and I never received one.
Asked on June 11, 2015 under Business Law, Virginia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Yes, you legally may represent yourself, though this is not advised. You need to file a lawsuit against the majority owner for breach of fiduciary duty (the duty owed by a majority owner to minority owners), oppression of a minority owner, breach of contract (the terms of the operating agreement), unjust enrichment (unfairly and without valid cause enriching herself at the expense of the minority owner), and for failing to pay your your salary (another breach of contract, the agreement to pay you for working, claim). You should be able to get some basic instructions and sample forms from your local country court and/or its website.
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