My question involves business law in the state of: Indiana
My wife and I started a small manufacturing business five years ago and signed a lease agreement at that time. Like many start-ups, our business was slow to grow, but up until this year we were able to keep up with our rent payments. This year due to the economy we started to fall behind.
However, late in the year we started to acquire new business that would have turned in a lucrative opportunity for us. I told my landlord about the opportunities and that we would be able to catch up on our past due rents and should then be able to remain on schedule.
Shortly after I notified him of these new opportunities, my wife and business partner was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer. I then notified my landlord as to what we were now facing and ask that he please be patient with us. A few weeks after I told him of my wife's illness, we received an eviction notice and law suit for unpaid rents.
Being a small business, we had (2) employees working for us that had to be let go. One had two children and the other was a retired lady that needed what little we paid her.
Ironically, our landlord shutdown the only mechanism we had that could have allowed us to pay him. He also took away any opportunity we had to acquire the new business that was coming our way. I have asked him to drop the lawsuit to allow us to at least obtain financing to start over without the need for bankruptcy, but he refuses. In essence, he has destroyed our business.
My question is: Can I sue him for what he has done although I do owe him past due rents.

