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Around two weeks ago, a friend of mine started a cleaning business with a guy that his sibling knew at school but he (the guy starting the business did not know well). They never registered a limited company or set up as sole traders as they first wanted to see if the business will do well. Plus I also recommended to my friend that he waits 2 months to see if he can work with his new business partner that he didn't know well in the first place.
My friend ended up not happy with the unofficial partnership and told the guy that he had decided to go on his own. The friend in question also paid the guy for the equipment that he (the guy) had bought, my friend paid in cash but a third-party witness was there at the exchange. However, for some reason, the guy did not take the fact that my friend wanted to end the unofficial partnership well and began threatening my friend over text messages with physical violence and was demanding that my friend buys him out even though there was no actual registered business or sole trader partnership.
The threats went on for around a week, until, the guy turned up at my friend's home with a number of men and was threatening him and was now demanding that my friend gives him most of the equipment he used for the business. Before this occurred my friend had called 101 to report the threats of violence but the police had told him that they could not do anything about that. What ended up happening is that my friend was threatened into giving away most of his equipment that he had already paid for in front of a third-party witness in cash (a week or so prior). The CCTV camera on my friend's home captured some of the incident.
My question is how to legally proceed in order to recover this equipment or its monetary value, are the smalls claim court the right avenue? Furthermore, objectively does my friend have a chance of success, in this case, considering that he has a witness of the equipment being bought, text messages of the threats, and also CCTV footage of some of the incident. Also, my friend is scared that if he goes forward with this lawsuit that he will be attacked or his property (car/home) vandalized, I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this but what can he do in order to prevent this legally or lower the chances of that happening?
Thank you in advance for your advice
My friend ended up not happy with the unofficial partnership and told the guy that he had decided to go on his own. The friend in question also paid the guy for the equipment that he (the guy) had bought, my friend paid in cash but a third-party witness was there at the exchange. However, for some reason, the guy did not take the fact that my friend wanted to end the unofficial partnership well and began threatening my friend over text messages with physical violence and was demanding that my friend buys him out even though there was no actual registered business or sole trader partnership.
The threats went on for around a week, until, the guy turned up at my friend's home with a number of men and was threatening him and was now demanding that my friend gives him most of the equipment he used for the business. Before this occurred my friend had called 101 to report the threats of violence but the police had told him that they could not do anything about that. What ended up happening is that my friend was threatened into giving away most of his equipment that he had already paid for in front of a third-party witness in cash (a week or so prior). The CCTV camera on my friend's home captured some of the incident.
My question is how to legally proceed in order to recover this equipment or its monetary value, are the smalls claim court the right avenue? Furthermore, objectively does my friend have a chance of success, in this case, considering that he has a witness of the equipment being bought, text messages of the threats, and also CCTV footage of some of the incident. Also, my friend is scared that if he goes forward with this lawsuit that he will be attacked or his property (car/home) vandalized, I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this but what can he do in order to prevent this legally or lower the chances of that happening?
Thank you in advance for your advice
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