I apologize for the delay with this response, as I received an avvo.com email notice you were inquiring directly for a response back on March 20, but its a bit chaotic with everything going on recently with the coronavirus. Based upon the facts shared, it appears that your purchase from the prior owner was a stock purchase instead of an asset purchase. Meaning, you purchased all of the stock and took control of the seller company, rather than purchasing the assets of the seller's company and then transferring those assets to a newly formed, or existing company, of your own. In your situation, if you hired an attorney to handle the transaction, there should be indemnification agreements signed whereby, any liability arising prior to your purchase of the company the prior owner should be responsible to pay you for that loss and cost. If you have an indemnification agreement, or your purchase/sale agreement has indemnification language that covers you, as the buyer. for pre-sale liability, this should permit you to demand payment from the prior owner of the business. If your purchase/sale agreement does not include indemnification language, or you did not sign an indemnification agreement making the prior owner responsible for any liability prior to your purchase, you may be stuck. Even without the indemnification agreement with the prior owner, you may still be able to file an action for the loss as there is case law on this issue, but it will greatly depend upon two issue, (a) the terms of the purchase/sale agreement as to whether or not that liability has been waived and (b) whether or not this loss is covered by case law. If you purchased the company on a handshake deal, or if you and or the seller drafted the agreements without legal resources or aide when you bought the business, that may complicate matters greatly.

Either way, you should seek the consult of a qualified contract lawyer, and consider retaining an attorney to handle this matter. Neither the issue of prior liability, nor the civil claims pursuant tot the bad check statute are easily managed areas of law to prosecute or defend pro se. Essentially, you have more than one case here, as you have the claim against your business under the bad check statute, Section 68.065 (link: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0068/Sections/0068.065.html), and you have the issue of whether or not the prior owner has civil liability to you as a result of your company's liability to the third party as a result of the bad check. The latter of which is even more complicated by substantive law. The two substantive law issues also will be subject to procedural law, so you may very well find yourself overwhelmed if you try to handle these matters on your own.

As avvo.com does not provide enough room for me to provide a full response as to how liability works when you purchase a business, here is a resource that may help you understand "successor liability", which is applicable when you purchase a business: https://www.jimersonfirm.com/blog/2014/12/avoiding-successor-liability-purchasing-business/

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

This is an issue that should have been addressed when you bought the business. You may need to review the sales contract in that regard with a lawyer. Otherwise, unless its a substantial check i.e. $5,000+ it is likely cheaper to settle the dispute than litigate it unless its clear that the company owes nothing and you can convince Amscot to chase after the prior owner.

You need to hire an experienced consumer debt attorney to assist you. This is not a DIY project.

The answer to this question should be contained in the agreements and/or other documents you and the previous owner of the business agreed to and signed. If you and the other owner did not enter into any agreements covering who owed what and what to do about prior debts you may be stuck.

Free advice for small business owners like you: AVVO is a free online legal forum established to allow members of the general public to ask general legal questions to experienced lawyers who volunteer their valuable time to do so. Your important small business question should be directed to a small business lawyer of your choosing. If you have not consulted or retained a small business lawyer, you are encouraged to do so--before you make very costly mistakes.