Small business seeking legal advice?

We are a small business. A young lady came to our state to help us grow the business. We were very clear to her from the beginning there was no money to pay her. She said she would help grow the business and she had enough money to tie her over for a few months. (We did not ask her to come to our state and do this). There was no contract signed. She wrote a business plan, which we paid her. We took the business plan to a bank and tried to get a loan in hopes of having some income to pay her salary and grow the business. We were declined from 2 banks. She proceeded with aggressive advertising on the internet. The advertising financially put us in overdrawn at the bank. Once the bank contacted us about the charges on our account we confronted her and told her we could not use her services, please stop. She then send us a bill for several thousand dollars for her services. We tried to make a ';good faith'; effort and pay her a percentage. She declined and seeking legal advice. Are we legally obligated to pay her? And could she hurt our small business? Thank you for your advice.Small business seeking legal advice?
Can she sue you? Of course, anyone can sue for anything.





From your side of the story you have a pretty good defense that there was no contract. I can guarantee that her side will be different.





This is not the place to get an answer to your question. It is too complex. If she brings suit against you then you will need an attorney. Hopefully you have liability insurance.Small business seeking legal advice?
You have no liability to her in the US. She would have had to have signed an employment contract indicating a salary, etc. If you can support the initial agreement with emails, you will be fine and you will be fine otherwise. Don't worry....she cannot do anything.





In the future though, I would protect youself by having a written contract in place stating there is no compensation.