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Shabbat Parashat Tazria Metzora 5780P'ninat Mishpat: Giving a Partnership to One Partner(based on ruling 78033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)Case: The plaintiff (=pl) and defendant (=def) jointly opened a retail meat business. They have now decided to end the partnership, with def getting the business. They have asked beit din to do “express adjudication” to determine how to compensate pl. The two had opened an osek mursheh (app., a personal business) and took a large bank loan, for which they have been making monthly payments. Based on their written agreement, def worked five days a week in the store and received an 8,000 shekel a month salary; pl worked twice a week and received 1,800 shekels. Due to a dispute, pl stopped working in the store in Oct. 2017. Pl claims that the business is worth today 300,000 shekels, and since there is close to 100,000 shekels of debt, his half share for giving def full control should be at least 100,000 shekels. He claims to not be responsible for loans def took on the business without pl’s agreement. He claims there are also various payments that def improperly took from the business account. Def claims that the business is not presently worth anything, including because it does not presently have a license to operate as it is. He wants the value of the business to be estimated based on the time that pl stopped working at it. He therefore wants pl to pay 40,000 shekels of debt before leaving the business. Ruling: The two sides agreed in the hearing to have Mr. B, who is not an appraiser but owned a supermarket in their region, to appraise the business’s value. Mr. B estimated the value of the business at 235,000 shekels, which took into account the fact that it does not yet have a license. He also took into account the present equipment and inventory. Because this is “express adjudication,” we will estimate the value based on Oct. 2017. This is the only way (on technical grounds, mainly because pl is unaware of what transpired financially since then) to do a simple estimation. It is true that Mr. B is not a professional appraiser and one can disagree with the way he used to appraise the business’s value. However, because there was logic in using him, because he is objective, and especially because the sides agreed to use him, the claim of one of the sides that he could have used a different system for appraisal is to be rejected. Def claims that the business’s debt is 86,037 shekels. Pl does not know exactly but estimates it at 85,000 shekels. Since the difference between the sides is small and def has an exact number and a definite claim, we will follow it, just rounding it down to 86,000 shekels. Therefore, the value of pl’s half of the business is (235,000-86,000) /2 = 74,500 shekels. Both sides argue that the amount of salary that they received from the business was unfairly low. Beit din rejects the relevance of both claims. As long as previous agreements were followed, that is the arrangement which should be binding. Top of page
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We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for: Nir Rephael ben Rachel Bracha Netanel Ilan ben Sheina Tzipora Netanel ben Sarah Zehava Meira bat Esther Yair Menachem ben Yehudit Chana Rivka Reena bat Gruna Natna Lillian bat Fortune Yafa bat Rachel Yente Eliezer Yosef ben Chana Liba Ro'i Moshe Elchanan ben Gina Devra Esther Michal bat Gitel Yehudit Sarah bat Rachel Together with all cholei Yisrael Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of: for our homeland Eretz Hemdah's beloved friends and Members of Eretz Hemdah's Amutah Rav Shlomo Merzel z”l Rav Reuven Aberman z"l Tishrei 9 5776 Mr. Shmuel Shemesh z"l R' Eliyahu Carmel z"l Rav Carmel's father Iyar 8 5776 Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h. Tamuz 10 5774 Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l Kislev 9 5769 R' Meir ben Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld z"l & Mrs. Sara Brachfeld z"l Tevet 16 5780 R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha and Chana bat Yaish & Simcha Sebbag, z"l Rav Yisrael Rozen z"l Rav Benzion Grossman z"l Rav Moshe Zvi (Milton) Polin z"l Tamuz 19 5778 R' Abraham Klein z"l Iyar 18 5779 Hemdat Yamim |