Hi there. The law provides a number of remedies in situations where a person has unjustly benefited or made a gain (e.g. a profit) at the expense of another person. In these situations, the law says that there is a need for ‘restitution’, which typically involves compensating the party who has suffered a loss.

Restitution claims are complicated and can take many different forms. In your situation, you may be able to base your claim on the fact that you provided services to the owner/CEO of the company (or the company itself) without reasonable remuneration. You would need to prove that you expended time, labour and/or resources at the request of the company owner and your services were freely accepted by the company owner. To strengthen your claim, you would need to provide evidence of your work for the company (e.g. correspondence, log books, receipts) and that your services benefited the company owner or the company itself.

The law also says that if someone promises to do something and you rely on that promise to your detriment (e.g. suffer a loss), you will have a claim against that person to enforce the original promise and/or claim compensation. In other words, the person is stopped from going back on their promise. In your situation, if you can prove that the company owner led you to believe that you would be a 49% shareholder and you relied on that assumption in providing services to the company, you may have a legal claim against the company owner if he is now refusing to honour the original agreement. These types of claims can be very difficult to prove and the strength of your particular claim will depend on a number of factors, such as the nature of the correspondence between you and the company owner and the conduct of all parties during the time you have been working for the business.

Suggested way forward

From the information you provided, it appears that you may have a number of legal options available to you. Speaking to a lawyer will help you get a better picture of the strength of your claim and the potential complexity and expense involved in pursuing these claims. By pressing the “Consult a Lawyer” button, LawAdvisor can help you search for experienced lawyers and obtain fee proposals for their services. Costs for legal advice and representation will vary between providers based on experience and the scope of services.