File 023 | When a Business Dispute Followed me Home
When a Business Dispute Followed Me Home
Tucson, Arizona. July 2026.
The temperature outside was climbing toward the brutal highs of an Arizona summer.
And the air conditioning in my home had failed.
I have two German Shepherds. One of them, Monet, has a history of seizures. Excessive heat is therefore not something I can simply shrug off as uncomfortable. Keeping my home cool during the Arizona summer matters to me because animals I love and am responsible for live here.
Normally, I would have had a backup.
Viral Solutions owned a Honeywell portable air-conditioning unit.
I had allowed that unit to leave my possession because it was being used by a business associate. I did so believing something that, at the time, seemed entirely reasonable: it was still Viral Solutions property, and if I ever needed it back, it would be returned.
I was wrong.
I Had Already Asked for It Back
The failure of my home’s air conditioning did not cause me to suddenly decide that I wanted the portable unit returned.
I had already been asking.
On May 27, 2026, I sent a formal written demand for the return of Viral Solutions-owned equipment believed to be in the possession or control of former business associates.
The equipment specifically identified included:
- a Samsung Odyssey 49-inch curved monitor;
- the Honeywell portable air-conditioning unit; and
- computer/workstation equipment.
The demand expressly stated:
“The above equipment was purchased by Viral Solutions and remains company property.”
A ten-day period was provided for the property to be returned, replaced, or reimbursed.
It wasn’t.
More requests followed.
Still, the equipment was not returned.
Then My Air Conditioning Failed
By late July, this was no longer an abstract disagreement over company property.
My home’s air conditioning failed during extreme Arizona summer temperatures.
The portable Honeywell unit that Viral Solutions had purchased—and that I had repeatedly requested be returned—could have provided temporary relief while my home’s system was being repaired.
So I wrote again.
This time, I explained exactly what was happening.
“My home’s air conditioning has failed during a period of extreme summer temperatures. The Honeywell portable air conditioning unit that remains in your possession would have provided temporary relief while permanent repairs are completed.”
I again demanded either the immediate return of Viral Solutions’ equipment or reimbursement sufficient for me to replace it.
The email was opened.
The equipment still was not returned.
This Is Where It Became Personal
My association with Michigan Secure Capital Group and the people involved with it had already carried an extraordinary personal cost.
I have separately documented the financial losses, years of unpaid work, damage to my company, depletion of my savings, and other consequences of that relationship.
Perhaps, by this point, I should have expected what happened next.
I had already been assured that my home would not go into foreclosure.
Spoiler alert: it did.
That is an upcoming file, and the contemporaneous communications surrounding those assurances and what ultimately happened to my home will be documented there.
But even after everything that had happened, I still hoped there was a line these people would not cross.
After nearly three years of work that remains unpaid, after everything I had continued to do, and after repeatedly requesting the return of property that Viral Solutions had purchased, I still believed that when faced with something this basic—an Arizona home without air conditioning during extreme summer heat, with two German Shepherds inside—there would be some measure of human decency.
I was wrong.
By July 30, temperatures in the area had reached 108°F. They would reach 108°F again on July 31 and 109°F on August 1. Overnight lows during those three days remained between 84°F and 86°F.
I was running fans. I was using cooling products. I was watching the temperature inside my house climb. I was doing everything available to me to keep Galileo and Monet comfortable and safe while waiting for my home’s air conditioning to be restored.
And somewhere else was an air conditioner my company had paid for.
An air conditioner I had already requested back.
More than once.
On July 30, I put the situation in writing again. I specifically told them that my home’s air conditioning had failed during extreme summer temperatures and that the Honeywell portable unit in their possession would provide temporary relief.
The email was opened.
The air conditioner was not returned.
Nobody needed to buy me an air conditioner.
Nobody needed to give me money.
Nobody needed to solve my problem for me.
They simply needed to return mine.
That is the part that remains so difficult for me to reconcile.
Business disputes are one thing.
Watching the temperature rise inside your home while trying to keep the animals who depend upon you cool—knowing that your own company’s air conditioner could have helped—is something else entirely.
I cannot tell anyone what motivated the decision not to return it.
I can only document what happened.
And in my opinion, after everything that preceded it, refusing to return that equipment under these circumstances was not merely inconsiderate.
I experienced it as malicious and cruel.
The Record Exists
This account does not depend upon my memory alone.
The written record includes the original equipment demand, subsequent demands, the identification of the Honeywell portable air-conditioning unit, the replacement values provided at the time, the deadline for return or reimbursement, the later notification that my home air conditioning had failed, and records showing that the correspondence was received and opened.
Those records speak for themselves.
I am preserving them because there is a human story behind every invoice, every demand letter, and every piece of property listed on a spreadsheet.
This one was mine.
And this one involved my dogs.