{"id":691,"date":"2024-02-29T20:05:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T20:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/sdnj\/?p=691"},"modified":"2024-02-29T20:05:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T20:05:30","slug":"forged-in-lies-when-majority-owners-fabricate-signatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/sdnj\/minority-shareholder-rights\/forged-in-lies-when-majority-owners-fabricate-signatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Forged in Lies: When Majority Owners Fabricate Signatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my April 2023 blog, “What to Do When You Suspect Falsified Documents by Majority Shareholders<\/a>,” I discussed in detail the issue of a business partner forging documents. With this happening more than ever before, I wanted to delve deeper into one aspect of this issue: forged signatures.<\/p>\n

Minority business owners often think all is lost when the majority owners fabricate a document. The false document could be something where the complaining minority owner purportedly signed a document giving away certain rights, or it could be \u201cevidence\u201d that the minority owner knew all about \u2013 or worse, was involved in \u2013 the very thing he is now suing over. Many times, business owners falsify a document not realizing just how high the stakes can be, or that they may be \u201cdoing you a favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is undeniable that forgery is difficult to pull off. If the signature is not genuine, a handwriting expert can undermine its authenticity. In many cases, though, an expert is hardly needed, as the signatures do not even come close. In one recent case, the signature on a personal guarantee looked as if it were signed not only by a different person, but by a different species. In other cases, the signature is lifted from another document \u2013 meaning it is your signature, but not one you volunteered to sign.<\/p>\n

If this happens, there are other ways to prove a forgery not involving a handwriting expert: metadata on documents, contemporaneous emails, forgetting that you were in Asia on the date you supposedly signed the document \u2013 there are many ways the lie can come crashing down. And when that happens, the other side may be in an incredible amount of trouble.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned in my previous post, a majority owner facing potential criminal charges may have to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege. Many people don\u2019t understand exactly what that means for a civil litigation. Everyone knows from television that if you refuse to answer questions, your silence can\u2019t be held against you. But that is only in a criminal case<\/em><\/strong>. In a civil case \u2013 like shareholder dispute litigation \u2013 refusing to answer will very much be held against you. On a question such as, \u201cdid you pay yourself money that you didn\u2019t share with your business partner,\u201d or, \u201cwas your bonus really justified, or was it a way to get money to you that you didn\u2019t have to share with your partner,\u201d if he refuses to answer, the court is likely to create an adverse inference that the answer was \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Litigation sometimes gets short-circuited because someone who thought they were smarter than everyone else, cranking out fake documents as if they had just invented the printing press, was humbled in the end \u2013 literally unable to defend a case for fear of going to jail.<\/p>\n

If you know \u2013 or fear \u2013 that you will be up against fake documents if you take on your business partner, don\u2019t take the issue lightly. But don\u2019t back down, either, until you discuss the issue with an experienced shareholder dispute attorney. All may not be lost.<\/p>\n

For inquiries and questions related to Business Divorce litigation and potential shareholder fraud, feel free to reach out to me<\/a> at dcroberts@norris-law.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my April 2023 blog, “What to Do When You Suspect Falsified Documents by Majority Shareholders,” I discussed in detail the issue of a business partner forging documents. With this happening more than ever before, I wanted to delve deeper into one aspect of this issue: forged signatures. Minority business owners often think all is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,29,2],"tags":[],"coauthors":[160],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nForged in Lies: When Majority Owners Fabricate Signatures<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In business disputes involving fabricated documents, it is important for minority business owners to know that not all hope is lost.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/sdnj\/minority-shareholder-rights\/forged-in-lies-when-majority-owners-fabricate-signatures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forged in Lies: When Majority Owners Fabricate Signatures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In business disputes involving fabricated documents, it is important for minority business owners to know that not all hope is lost.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/sdnj\/minority-shareholder-rights\/forged-in-lies-when-majority-owners-fabricate-signatures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business Divorce in NJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-29T20:05:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/sdnj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/02\/Business-Divorce-in-NJ-Blog-2.29.24.png?_t=1709237131\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David C. 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