Owner refuses to give back down payment
So I'm relatively new to the whole "real estate" and "business" world... but right after graduating, I decided to venture into buying a business. I did a lot of research, scoped out a lot of places, and finally found a restaurant.
After a lot of meetings and paperwork involved, I finally gave the owner the down payment, applied for a business license and a trade name registration. All I was waiting upon was for the landlord to give me the lease. In the meantime, I worked at the restaurant for about a month (with no pay) to learn the ropes. About a month went by and a couple of days ago, the lease was rejected by the landlord for certain stipulations (none on my part) and in the end, the deal fell short.
Now, I went back to the original owner to request that he returns the down payment, and he flat out said that because I learned how the business went, that "knowledge" alone is worth the down payment and he owes me nothing.
... from speaking to my lawyers, this is absurd. My attorneys are currently on this case, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a case like this. I've never heard of this. Does this guy actually have a case?