my uncle suing my parents into bankruptcy

[applesauce]

My great-grandfather stared an auto shop here in Minneapolis in he 1910s. My grandfather and great-uncle eventually took it over. My grandfather and great-uncle also owned and operated 2 apartment buildings. When they retired, they sold the shop 50/50 to two of my uncles, and sold off the apartment buildings. In 1991, one of the purchasers defaulted on one of the buildings, and since it was a cash for deed deal, my grandfather and great-uncle got the building back. My dad and uncle purchased the building 50/50 from my grandfather and great-uncle. At the same time, my dad bough my other uncle out of the shop, so he now owned it 50/50 with the same uncle who he owned the apartment building 50/50 with. My dad managed the apartments, and my uncle managed the shop. As the years went by, both businesses did well, especially the apartments. In 1994, my dad was able to quit his job at Northwest Airlines to work full time at the rapidly expanding apartment company. Both businesses expanded-- my uncle opened a second shop, and my dad had expanded from one building to dozens, across Minneapolis, and opening offices in Duluth, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Portland. About a dozen people bought small shares in he company, mostly family, including four other uncles of mine (one the first uncle who originally owned 50% of the shop), my grandparents, and great-uncle (who used to own 50% of the shop and first building). In 2001, my uncle and dad agreed  to buy eachother out of their respective businesses, so that my dad would own both of their shares of the apartment company, and my uncle would own all of the shop. Because the apartment company had been much more successful and grown much larger and faster than the shop, in addition to his share in the shop, my dad was to pay my uncle 4.4 million. In 2006 my uncle retired at the age of 47, putting someone else in charge of the shop. In 2008, when the recession hit, both businesses suffered significantly. The shop went back down to one location, and we sold or had foreclosed all of our properties in Kansas City and Portland, as well as about half of those in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. In the spring of 2009, my dad fell behind on payments towards the 4.4 million. In early 2010 a subsidiary development company of my dad's filed for bankruptcy. In the summer of 2010, we lost our Minneapolis office building and nearly lost most of the remaining Minneapolis buildings. If it hadn't been for the sale of a large property to Ramsey County, things probably would have gone the other way. All this time, my dad has been working 60+ hour weeks, getting ulcers, sleeping 3-4 hours a night, and having trouble keeping up with the mortgage and other bills at home. Meanwhile, my uncle hasn't returned to work and bought a condo in Mexico in 2009. In total, my dad has paid about 2.4  of the 4.4 million. In December, my uncle began to get more aggressive about my dad catching up on payment, but it just isn't something that is possible to do, when we can't even keep up on our own water, phone, mortgage, ect. Yesterday he filed papers suing my dad and the other investors for 2 million. He will win, assuming he doesn't drop the charges.

My parents will file for bankruptcy and my other uncles who hold shares will lose tens of thousands.

[Hiro]

That's really awful, your uncle sounds like a shithead.

[[REDACTED]]

i would never do business with family :x

[burzumfan420]

most cases settle out of court. but still a shitbag thing to do.