Friday, May 2, 2008

Perils Of Internet Partnerships

Normally, I would not do this, as it was a PPP that I didn’t get, but I found this one interesting enough to me to put it in my blog anyway. More information can be found on this gentleman’s website, and his address is below the press release.

Press Release:

Ownership of RateMyTeachers.com, one of the internet’s most popular education destinations with over 70K visitors per day, and the legal effect of its purported recent sale to Patrick Nagle, is currently under dispute. RateMyTeachers was initially founded in August 2001 as a complement to RateMyProfessors.com (currently owned by Viacom) under Michael Hussey’s then “RateMy Network”. The site was restructured as a partnership in 2002 between MisterMessage LLC, John Swapceinski, and Michael Hussey. Since that time, it has grown significantly year-over-year.

Recently the partners agreed to terms according to which Message LLC would sell its partnership interest to Michael Hussey.

MisterMessage now claims to have “sold” RateMyTeachers to Patrick Nagle LLC, without consent of all the partners, for an unspecified amount of cash and a promise to participate in profits from any resale. Under California partnership law, no sale of the partnership can be effective absent the consent of all partners. Prior to the sale, Michael Hussey placed both MisterMessage LLC and Mr. Nagle on notice that he objected to any sale without his consent, and has reiterated that objection to all parties to the sale. Any prospective purchaser of RateMyTeachers should also be on notice of the dispute over ownership.

RateMyTeachers dispute

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