Anybody got any business legal advice?

i quit my job took my 401k to open a body shop. found a building & lanlord said she checked with the town & i could do it there.i spent 12g getting the shop ready leaving me only 7g left & almost ready to open. today the town shut me down & says i cant have a body shop there. they also said they shut down 2 others that tried to open there. that means my landlord new all the time the town wouldnt allow it, and lied. they took my money and saw all the money i was spending on this place knowing what was going to happen. now im dead in the water. i just dont know what to do next. anybody got any good advice?

a few things first off I know you have spent money already but you may need an attorney. 2nd I presume this must be a small town and it has to do with a zoning issue. Before making too big of waves try to reason with the town council(do this before the attorney). If your land lord rented you this place full well knowing that you could not open your business there then they committed at the very least fraud. They would have to give your money back. Try to find the legal terms for this and present them to the landlord. If they don't budge you may need to sue. let them know that if you have to sue then you will also sue for lost revenue. this would come from if they in fact knew you could not open a business there but they rented to you and said it was cleared with the town. you could recoup possible lost revenue due to the fact that you could have been in business elsewhere or working. check all your facts first and make sure that they did know you could not open shop there. I would try to find out about the other 2 who tried to open there also maybe this person shafted them also? The town may not even be able to legally say you cannot open your business there. so check that also. hope this helps. I am not a lawyer or anything but have been through much in life and was a manager in fast food for 10 years. Good luck hon

this is personal advice, not legal advice

what reasons do they give for refusing body shops? zoning? environmental? the point of this part is: are you certain their reasons are valid & legal? perhaps consulting an attorney on this point is a good idea, if you are not confident their reasoning is sound

another point, but much less likely to have anything to it: is it possible your landlord did not act in good faith? if you had a contract to put a body shop in, MAAAAYBE you could show he had knowledge of the illegality of this, and then was aware the contract was invalid. however, most landlord have contracts which make all this the renter's responsibility.

chances are this will go nowhere. but this is all i can recommend. you may strongly consider consulting a good attorney familiar with both business & rental laws. i would, since those are not my area of specialty