I am a business owner in SC. I entered a verbal agreement with a young lady to sublease space in a building in which she had a lease. Our agreement was that we paid everything rent, utilities etc. She helped us with our administrative duties for the business. She became upset with me due to a business decision I made for my business and would not let us back into the building no notice. She would not let us get out stuff out of the building and would not let us conduct business. She put a ADT alarm system on the building. There was not eviction process and we paid $6000 that was good through May 2013. She locked us out on 3/18/13. We lost all our customers and business due her not allowing us back in the building. We filed a claim and delivery motion and was able to get some of our stuff but the week it took to get the papers served items were missing. Do we have grounds for filing a wrongful eviction and sue for damages and our security deposit and rent payment?

From what you've said here it sounds like you have an excellent case. I would speak to at least two or three attorneys immediately. Many will offer free consultations so you can get an idea of the extent of your claim.

You say a verbal agreement? Did no one ever tell you that is NOT a smart way to do business? Frankly, without a written agreement, I don't think you have as good a case as Lisa thinks. For example, you say you paid $6000 that was supposed to carry you through May. What proof do you have that a) you paid this money and (more importantly) b) that it carried you through to May.

This is just one place where your case might be weak. Was this a startup business? Or have an established business that you moved? If it's a startup, that further weakens your case, In my opinion.

Definitely consult a few different lawyers. They will ask similar questions and more to try and determine the viability and extent of your case. Hopefully you can prove that she arbitrarily locked you out and ruined your business without justification. If you can, then should have a good claim.I'm just not sure, based on what you have told us, that you can prove it.

We were previously in a lease with the building owner and ran into some financial issues and could not pay rent on time and settled with the owners to move out. The young lady that was working with us put the lease in her name in order for us to stay in the building. Our verbal agreement with this young lady was that we paid everything to stay in the building. She was able to use some of the space to work on her nonprofit business for putting the lease in her name and did not pay any bills to include utilities. We continued to operate our same business. We have the check from our account to the business owner directly and all utilities and bills were in our name. We can definitely show that we were still conducting business as previous and never stopped. The kicker is that when she locked us out of our place of business, she opened the same kind of business in another name and took our customers and switched them over to her business. She even used our equipment until the claim and delivery notice was served. We have learned our lesson about trusting people and will never put ourselves in this position again. We just hope that we can prove in court that she unjustly kicked us out and we were operating as a business. Any helpful hints on putting this lawsuit together. We have filed suit against her

Get an attorney! You have already been burned once by not having a lawyer to protect your interests. You NEED an attorney to prepare your case.

Your follow-up does make your case stronger, however, I'm bothered by this:

could not pay rent on time and settled with the owners to move out. The young lady that was working with us put the lease in her name in order for us to stay in the building.

Clearly this was done to get around the building owner's desire to get you out. So this puts a very shady aspect on the deal that will not sit well with a court.

I have a feeling that a lot of the story is missing.

... She was able to use some of the space to work on her nonprofit business for putting the lease in her name and did not pay any bills to include utilities. ...

What is a "nonprofit business"?