Desperately need to sell. But selling a business while being sued?
Hello, location: Florida here.
My family has a small INC. business. It has faced a “slip-and-fall” lawsuit for years, and the insurance company is handling the case. Recently, the owner (my father) passed away. Being the current owner of the business, my mother wants to sell it as fast as possible.
However, she didn’t tell the buyers about the lawsuit. Furthermore, she refuses to provide information to our defense attorney because she believes the attorney is bothering her by asking all the information and she doesn’t want to engage in anything with the case. (Which indeed, she doesn’t know much about the accident)
Since I don't have the right to interfere with her actions, I want to acknowledge the possible risk as much as possible.
Would there be any consequences for not telling the buyer about a lawsuit against the business?
edit: Hi, I want to add some information here. My mother created a new inc over my father’s old inc when she took over (at the time, she knows nothing about the law suit). And she plans on selling the business under the new corporation. Her thought was that this inc would be independent of the previous inc. (And consequently, its lawsuit) Nevertheless, her name is still on the old inc and she is using the same asset. In this situation, does selling the business leave all consequences on the old business? What are its consequences? Would my mother then be fully responsible for the extra settlement not covered by the insurance?
2nd edit. Thank you for all the comments. Alerted by a comment that I did not clarify the selling details, I want to add on that (from what I understood), my mother is only selling the property, which is a restaurant. The restaurant is the only property of the inc. Is this transaction during open case allowed? And are we still responsible of informing the buyer a law suit at the corporation?